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Spaightwood Galleries
120 Main Street, Upton MA 01568-6193; 800-809-3343
Old Master Drawings: 17th-Century Italian Drawings II
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Italian School, early 17th-century. Time with his scythe. Pen and black ink and white bodycolor on brown laid paper, For a late 16th-century description of Time as the destroyer of all things beautiful, like the lilies of the field, see Edmund Spenser's The Faerie Queene, Book III, Canto vi, Stanza 39:
Great enimy to it, and to all the rest,
That in the Gardin of Adonis springs,
Is wicked Time, who with his scyth addrest,
Does mow the flowring herbes and goodly things,
And all their glory to the ground downe flings,
Where they doe wither, and are fowly mard:
He flyes about, and with his flaggy wings
Beates downe both leaues and buds without regard,
Ne euer pittie may relent his malice hard.
Image size: 157x96 mm. Price: $6500.
On my 24-inch monitor, this is about life-size.
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Italian School, 17th-century, Studies for a sculpture of John the Baptist in the wilderness with a lamb. Pen and brown ink and wash on laid paper. Beneath the two studies showing John leaning against a rock formation located upon a large flat rock (deal for a sculpture stand) holding his bowl in one hand and a cross in the other which he is using as a shepherd's crook, there is another drawing below showing a scantily-dressed woman reclining on some pillows (perhaps Salomé, perhaps Venus accompanied by Cupid). There is another drawing on the verso showing a kneeling figure presenting a head for the approval of a standing figure. Another figure, perhaps leaning on a cloud, perhaps leaning on a rock formation, watches. Beneath them, two more figures, a man and a woman or a woman and a child. This drawing exemplifies an important aspect of Renaissance drawing: paper was expensive, and the first thoughts of artists tended to be small and scattered. Examples can be easily found in the corpus of drawings by Michelangelo and Veronese. Image size: 130x100mm. Price: $3750.
On my 24-inch monitor, this is about life-size.
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Italian School, 17th-century, Studies for a sculpture of John the Baptist in the wilderness with a lamb—Verso. A kneeling figure presenting a head for the approval of a standing figure (Saul's head for David?). Another figure, perhaps leaning on a cloud, perhaps leaning on a rock formation, watches. Beneath them, two more figures, a man and a woman or a woman and a child. Image size: 130x100mm. Price: $3750.
On my 24-inch monitor, this is about life-size.
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Italian School, 17th-century, The Trinity. Black chalk drawing on thin laid paper. The Father, surrounded by a triangular halo, holds his dead Son in his lap while a Dove spreads Its wings to cover Christ's face. The verso has been blacked out, perhaps to make a tracing to transfer this drawing to another sheet? From this oblong frame drawn around the composition, it would seem that this was a sketch for a ceiling composition to be inscribed within a roundel. Image size: 45x84mm. Price: $2000.
On my 24-inch monitor, this is about life-size.
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We present here a collection of 17th-century Italian drawings, done either in red or black chalk, having at least one thing in common: all were at one point in the same collection, each having had tabs of black paper glued to the verso to allow mounting them in an album. None of the pieces, alas, have a collector's stamp, so we do not know when or where or who, but they do offer an opportunity to think about why people collect the works of art that they collect. Nine of the pieces are in red chalk. Three of this group appear to be studies for a St. Sebastian (one of the three shows the figure with an arrow embedded in his breast), three are busts of adults, two women and an elderly man, three are children, without wings, so probably not Cupids, but more likely to be Cherubs (though one, having nothing of the divine about him, may be a study of a real child). There are also two studies of boys or young men, done in black chalk; at least one of these appears to date from the 18th century, all of the others seem, on stylistic grounds, to have been created in the 17th century, probably an artist or several artists familiar with the artists of the Bolognese school, especially the Carracci and Guido Reni. When we have some time, we will be researching Italian artists of the 17th century; as we learn more, the prices will probably rise, perhaps significantly so should they appear to be related to works by important artists; extravagantly so should they turn out to be by major artists. For the moment, however, we offer them at introductory prices appropriate to our estimation of their present value for enjoying and understanding the place of drawings in the hearts of earlier collectors.
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Italian School, 17th-century, Study for a St. Sebastian. Red chalk drawing on heavy cream laid paper with no watermark. The arrow in his right breast suggests that this is a study for a St. Sebastian; the uneven trimming suggests that it might once have been a part of a larger composition and may signal that this collection was put together for the assistants in the workshop of an artist successful enough that he needed assistants. Image size: 129x85 mm. Price: $5500.
On my 24-inch monitor, this is about life-size; on my 13-inch Macbook, it is 115mm in height.
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Italian School, 17th-century, Study for a St. Sebastian II. Red chalk drawing on heavy cream laid paper with no watermark. For some suggestive similarities to this composition, see L'opera completa di Guido Reni (Rizzoli, 1971), pl. 63-64). The uneven trimming suggests that it might once have been a part of a larger composition and may signal that this collection was put together for the assistants in the workshop of an artist successful enough that he needed assistants. Image size: 114x82 mm. Price: $6000.
On my 24-inch monitor, this is about life-size.
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Italian School, 17th-century, Study for a St. Sebastian III. Red chalk drawing on heavy cream laid paper with no watermark. The uneven trimming suggests that it might once have been a part of a larger composition and may signal that this collection was put together for the assistants in the workshop of an artist successful enough that he needed assistants. Image size: 116x74 mm. Price: $5500.
On my 24-inch monitor, this is about life-size.
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Italian School, 17th-century, Study of an old man turned to the right. Red chalk drawing on heavy cream laid paper with no watermark. A beautiful study of the head of an old man, with just a few hairs left in the center of his head; like these reminders of his vanished hair, the uneven trimming of the paper suggests that it might once have been a part of a larger composition and may signal that this collection was put together for the assistants in the workshop of an artist successful enough that he needed assistants. Image size: 108x74 mm. Price: $5000.
On my 24-inch monitor, this is about life-size.
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Italian School, 17th-century, Study of a young woman turned to the left. Red chalk drawing on heavy cream laid paper with no watermark. A study of the head of a beautiful young woman, caught in the act of turning to the left. For some suggestive similarities to this composition, see Annibale's Head of a young girl looking downwards in Drawings by the Carracci from British Collections (Ashmolean Museum, 1996), p. 104). The uneven trimming of the paper suggests that it might once have been a part of a larger composition and may signal that this collection was put together for the assistants in the workshop of an artist successful enough that he needed assistants. Image size: 106x92 mm. Price: $5000.
On my 24-inch monitor, this is about life-size.
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Italian School, 17th-century, Study of a young woman turned to the left II. Red chalk drawing on heavy cream laid paper with no watermark. A study of the head of a beautiful young woman. The uneven trimming of the paper suggests that it might once have been a part of a larger composition and may signal that this collection was put together for the assistants in the workshop of an artist successful enough that he needed assistants. Image size: 113x86 mm. Price: $5000.
On my 24-inch monitor, this is about life-size.
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Italian School, 17th-century, Study of a Cherub. Red chalk drawing on heavy cream laid paper with no watermark. A study of the head and shoulders of a Cherub (it strikes us as too adult to be a little boy). Although these figures do not seem capable of any action, we might remember Macbeth's musings (I.vii.21-25) and the consequences of murdering King Duncan:
And pity, like a naked new-born babe,
Striding the blast, or heaven's cherubin, horsed
Upon the sightless couriers of the air,
Shall blow the horrid deed in every eye
That tears shall drown the wind.
The uneven trimming of the paper suggests that it might once have been a part of a larger composition and may signal that this collection was put together for the assistants in the workshop of an artist successful enough that he needed assistants. Image size: 120x80 mm. Price: $5000.
On my 24-inch monitor, this is about life-size.
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Italian School, 17th-century, Study of a Cherub II. Red chalk drawing on heavy cream laid paper with no watermark. A study of the head and shoulders of a Cherub or a little boy, though it strikes us as too adult to be a little boy (see comment above). The uneven trimming of the paper suggests that it might once have been a part of a larger composition and may signal that this collection was put together for the assistants in the workshop of an artist successful enough that he needed assistants. Image size: 111x65 mm. Price: $4500.
On my 24-inch monitor, this is about life-size.
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Italian School, 17th-century, Study of a baby looking to the left. Red chalk drawing on heavy cream laid paper with no watermark. A study of the head and shoulders of a Cherub or a nursing baby, it strikes us as too infantile to be a Cherub. For some suggestive similarities to this composition, see the child in Ludovico's Virgin and Child in Drawings by the Carracci from British Collections (Ashmolean Museum, 1996), p. 50). The uneven trimming of the paper suggests that it might once have been a part of a larger composition and may signal that this collection was put together for the assistants in the workshop of an artist successful enough that he needed assistants. Image size: 86x80 mm. Price: $4000.
On my 24-inch monitor, this is about life-size.
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Italian School, 17th-century, Study of a Boy. Black chalk drawing on heavy cream laid paper with no watermark. For some suggestive similarities to this composition, see Annibale's study of a hunchback boy in Drawings by the Carracci from British Collections (Ashmolean Museum, 1996), p. 107). The uneven trimming of the paper suggests that it might once have been a part of a larger composition and may signal that this collection was put together for the assistants in the workshop of an artist successful enough that he needed assistants. Image size: 120x85 mm. Price: $5000.
On my 24-inch monitor, this is about life-size.
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Italian School, late 17th-early 18th century, Portrait of a young gentleman. Black chalk drawing on heavy cream laid paper with no watermark. Some Veronese drawings show similarities to this composition. The uneven trimming of the paper suggests that it might once have been a part of a larger composition and may signal that this collection was put together for the assistants in the workshop of an artist successful enough that he needed assistants. Image size: 114x90 mm. Price: $3000.
On my 24-inch monitor, this is about life-size.
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Spaightwood Galleries, Inc.
To purchase, call us at 1-800-809-3343 (508-529-2511 in Upton MA & vicinity) or send an email to sptwd@verizon.net.
We accept AmericanExpress, DiscoverCard, MasterCard, and Visa.
We also accept wire transfers and paypal.
For directions and visiting information, please call. We are, of course, always available over the web and by telephone (see above for contact information). Click the following for links to past shows and artists. For a visual tour of the gallery, please click here. For information about Andy Weiner and Sonja Hansard-Weiner, please click here. For a list of special offers currently available, see Specials.
All works are sold with an unconditional guarantee of authenticity (as described in our website listing).
Go back to the top of this page.
Visiting hours: Saturday and Sunday noon to 6 pm and other times by arrangement.
Please call to confirm your visit. Browsers and guests are welcome.
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