Mauro Gandolfi

Sale, London, Sotheby's, 11 December 1980, lot 71;
with Chaucer Fine Arts, London;
sale, London, Christie's, 7 December 1993, lot 51;
with Galerie Eric Coatalem, Paris; acquired 1998

A. Cera, La Pittura Neoclassica Italiana, Milan 1987, cat. no. 384, reproduced;
P. Bagni, I Gandolfi: affreschi dipinti, bozzetti, disegni, Padua 1992, p. 505, cat. no. 476, reproduced

In very good condition. There are some slight areas of disruption at the very edges of the vellum, but these do not affect the image itself at all. The ink is very strong and fresh.
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This charming scene belongs to a group of highly finished drawings by Mauro, generally executed in watercolor on vellum.  Many of these works were copies after paintings by earlier masters, such as Cristofano Allori's Judith with the Head of Holofernes, which Mauro copied while he was in Paris, between 1801 and 1805.¹  The works were often intended to be engraved and indeed, during his time in Milan from 1819 to 1823, Mauro worked for print dealers such as Giuseppe Vallardi, for whom he executed the Madonna with Mary Magdalen and Saint Jerome, after Correggio, and the Eternal Father, after Guercino.²

The present drawing does not, however, appear to have been engraved, and was created as an independent work in its own right.  A comparable watercolor, also on vellum, is Mauro's beautiful Artist's Dream, which was exhibited in 1819, alongside other drawings by the artist, at the Accademia di Brera.³  The Farewell would have been viewed by contemporary collectors on the same terms as a painting; its endearing subject and decorative appeal place it alongside the immensely popular painted works by Mauro, such as his trompe l'oeil of a journeying couple.⁴

1. See P. Bagni, op. cit., p. 498, no. 469

2. Ibid, p. 472

3. Ibid, p. 499

4. Private Collection, Bologna; see A. Cera, op. cit., cat. no. 382