From Taddeo to Tiepolo: The Dr. John O’Brien Collection of Old Master Drawings

From Taddeo to Tiepolo: The Dr. John O’Brien Collection of Old Master Drawings

View full screen - View 1 of Lot 244. An Amorous Couple.

Alessandro Magnasco, called Lissandrino

An Amorous Couple

Auction Closed

January 27, 09:35 PM GMT

Estimate

8,000 - 12,000 USD

Lot Details

Description

Alessandro Magnasco, called Lissandrino

Genoa 1667 - 1749

An Amorous Couple


Point of the brush and gray wash, heightened with white on gray prepared paper

237 by 171 mm; 9 3/8 by 6 3/4 in

Unidentified collector's mark, encircled lion rampant;
sale, London, Christie's, 4 July 2000, lot 115

Related to a painting formerly in the collection of Benno Geiger (fig.1), in which, contrary to the present work, the shepherd appears to distance himself from the shepherdess, rather than embracing her.


The combination of media found in the O'Brien drawing, with its broad washes and abundant white heightening, is typical of Magnasco's highly distinctive graphic style and can be compared to other surviving drawings by the artist, two similar examples of which can be found in the collection of the Albertina, Vienna.1


1. See V. Birke & J. Kertész, Die Italienischen Zeichnungen der Albertina, vol. I, Munich 1991, pp. 187-188, figs. 226-227