Nicolò dell' Abate

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Nicolò dell' Abate
approximately 1509-1571
Coat of Arms of Pope Julius III Flanked by Personifications of Faith and Charity
ca. 1550
Pen and brown ink and wash, with lead white opaque watercolor, on light brown toned paper.
8 3/8 x 10 3/4 inches (213 x 273 mm)
Purchased by J. Pierpont Morgan (1837-1913) in 1910.
I, 50b
Notes: 

Acquired as School of Parmigianino: Girolamo Francesco Maria Mazzola, called Il Parmigianino. Parma 1503-1540 Casalmaggiore.
Drawing served as the basis for an engraving by Giulio Bonasone (Lugli, 1979).

Inscription: 

Inscribed at lower left, in black chalk, "Parmegianino"; on verso of lining, along right edge, in pen and brown ink, illegible because cropped by edge of paper; at lower left, in graphite "uu / 50"; at left center, in graphite, "No 8 /o/".
Watermark: Barely visible due to thickness of backing sheet (an unclear figure in a circle).

Provenance: 
Sir John Charles Robinson (1824-1913), Edinburgh and London; his sale, London, Christie, Manson & Woods, 13 May 1902, lot 252 "Parmigiano (sic) PAPAL ARMS-bistre, heightened with white; bought by Houie for £8.0.0); 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.
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Associated names: 

Parmigianino, 1503-1540, Formerly attributed to.
Robinson, J. C. (John Charles), Sir, 1824-1913, former owner.
Murray, Charles Fairfax, 1849-1919, former owner.
Morgan, J. Pierpont (John Pierpont), 1837-1913, former owner.
Morgan, J. P. (John Pierpont), 1867-1943, former owner.

Bibliography: 

Rhoda Eitel-Porter and and John Marciari, Italian Renaissance Drawings at the Morgan Library & Museum, New York, 2019, no. 86.
Selected references: Fairfax Murray 1905-12, 1: no. 50b; New York 1965-66, no. 108; Paris 1967, under no. 1; Bologna 1969, under no. 39 and no. 40; Lugli 1979, 95n20; Ottawa 1982, no. 8; Washington and Parma 1984, no. 79; Bergamini 1986, 283, 312; Fortunati 1995, 158, 160; Bologna 2002, under no. 62; Modena 2005, no. 123; Rolet 2015, 2:856-61.
Stampfle, Felice, and Jacob Bean. Drawings from New York collections. I: The Italian Renaissance. New York : Metropolitan Museum of Art : Pierpont Morgan Library, 1965.

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