Old Master Drawings

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Lot 96
  • 96

Giovanni David

Estimate
4,000 - 6,000 USD
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Description

  • Giovanni David
  • angels lamenting over the dead christ
  • Pen and brown ink and wash, over black chalk. Squared in black chalk, the squares numbered at the edges. Bears black chalk attribution: David

Provenance

Santo Varni (bears his inscription in pen and brown ink:....Collezione, overwritten with numbering N.24, Santo Varni/...81);
sale, London, Sotheby' s, 16-17 April 1997, lot 209

 

Catalogue Note

This drawing bears a traditional attribution to David, and the style and the physiognomy of the angels are characteristic of his work.  He was born at Cabella Ligure and worked as a painter and engraver and also as a scenographer, often for the famous Genoese noble family, the Durazzi.
The Genoese collector Santo Varni, who owned the drawing, also owned others by the artist, for example the Presentation of the Virgin Mary, now in a private collection, which is preparatory for David's painting in Santa Maria delle Vigne, Genoa.1

1. See M. Newcome Schleier and G. Grasso, Giovanni David, Pittore e incisore della famiglia Durazzo, Turin 2003, p. 79, D. 31, reproduced