Francesco Francia

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Francesco Francia

approximately 1450-1517

Judith Passing the Head of Holofernes to Her Maid

ca. 1500-1508

Brown ink, with brown and green wash, with white opaque watercolor, traces of red chalk in outlines of figures, on parchment.

14 1/8 x 10 3/8 inches (359 x 259 mm)

Purchased by Pierpont Morgan (1837-1913) in 1909.

I, 94

Inscription:

Stamped on verso in red ink, "The Pierpont Morgan Library / 38 East 36th street / New York City".

Provenance:

Possibly William Young Ottley (1771-1836), London; possibly his sale, London, T. Philipe, 13 April 1804, lot 252, or his sale, T. Philipe, London, 13 June 1804, lot 777 (as Mantegna); the Honourable Lewis Strange Wingfield (1842-1891); his sale, London, Christie's, 10-12 February 1892, lot 170 "Mantegna. Judith with the Head of Holofernes" to Fairfax Murray for £488.57; Charles Fairfax Murray (1849-1919), London and Florence; from whom purchased through Galerie Alexandre Imbert, Rome, in 1909 by Pierpont Morgan (1837-1913), New York (no mark; see Lugt 1509); his son, J. P. Morgan, Jr. (1867-1943), New York.

Associated names:

Ottley, William Young, 1771-1836, former owner.
Wingfield, Lewis, 1842-1891, former owner.
Murray, Charles Fairfax, 1849-1919, former owner.
Morgan, J. Pierpont (John Pierpont), 1837-1913, former owner.

Bibliography:

Rhoda Eitel-Porter and and John Marciari, Italian Renaissance Drawings at the Morgan Library & Museum, New York, 2019, no. 15.
Selected references: Fairfax Murray 1905-12, 1: no. 94; Buffalo 1935, no. 18; New York 1939, no. 63; New York and elsewhere 1957, no. 81; New York 1965-66, no. 12; Avery 1972, 407; Dreyer 1979, under no. 15; New York 1981, no. 6; Ottawa 1982, no. 1; Fortunati Pietrantonio 1986, 4, 19; Bologna 1988, 260-61; Birke and Kertész 1992-97, 2:776; Faietti 1993, 185-87; Fortunati 1994, 49; Fortunati 1995, 245; Negro and Roio 1998, 102-3, 193; Warren 1999, 223; Paris 2001, 28, 30; Bologna 2002, 74-75, under no. 7; Bologna 2018, 62-63, 103.
Collection J. Pierpont Morgan : Drawings by the Old Masters Formed by C. Fairfax Murray. London : Privately printed, 1905-1912, I, 94, repr.
Stampfle, Felice, and Jacob Bean. Drawings from New York collections. I: The Italian Renaissance. New York : Metropolitan Museum of Art : Pierpont Morgan Library, 1965, no. 12, repr.
European drawings, 1375-1825 / catalogue compiled by Cara D. Denison & Helen B. Mules ; with the assistance of Jane V. Shoaf. New York : Pierpont Morgan Library ; Oxford : Oxford University Press, 1981, no. 6.

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