GIOVANNI BATTISTA FOGGINI | NEPTUNE PURSUING CORONIS

Sale, Munich, Dorotheum, 4 November 2011, lot 94

Foggini's compositional drawings are so often characterised by movement and the present study is a fine example of how the artist creates such dynamism and energy through his works in pen, ink and wash. The subject, perfectly suited to progressive movement across the page, is that of Neptune pursuing Coronis. Foggini's horses, intelligently but rapidly drawn, commence the surge of motion as they gallop ferociously behind the two protagonists. Neptune pursues Coronis, who, as she runs, starts to turn into a crow. The black chalk under-drawing shows a number of pentimenti, evident in Neptune's leg and in Coronis' raised arm. 

Giovanni Battista Foggini was Primo Scultore della Casa Serenissima and Architetto Primario at the court of the Grand Duke Cosimo II de' Medici.