Ottavio Leoni

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Ottavio Leoni

approximately 1578-1630

Portrait of Pietro Altemps

1617

Black chalk, with white chalk, on blue laid paper.

9 1/8 x 6 1/8 inches (231 x 155 mm)

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

I, 25a

Notes:

The pensive young boy in this sympathetic portrait is Pietro Altemps (1607- 1691), whose family wereas an important patrons of the artist. Leoni was well known for his delicate portrait drawings on blue paper, which were very fashionable among members of Roman society. The juxtaposition of the boy's highly finished features with the quickly sketched pose and costume is typical of Leoni's drawings. He dated and numbered his portrait drawings: this is number 8, dated 1 September 1617. -- Exhibition Label, from "Life Lines: Portrait Drawings from Dürer to Picasso."

Inscription:

Inscribed at lower left, in pen and brown ink, "8i / sitinbre"; at center, "i6i7"; in graphite, at lower left corner, "D. Pietro Altemps" (apparently a transcription of an older pen and ink inscription which shows through from verso); on verso of mount, at lower left, in pen and black ink, "363".

Provenance:

Sir Thomas Lawrence (blind stamp, Lugt 2445); 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:

Lawrence, Thomas, Sir, 1769-1830, former owner.
Murray, Charles Fairfax, 1849-1919, former owner.
Morgan, J. Pierpont (John Pierpont), 1837-1913, former owner.

Bibliography:

Baroque Portraiture in Italy: Works from North American Collections, cat. by John T. Spike, 1984-1985, no. 27.
Felice Stampfle, Jacob Bean. Drawings from New York Collections, II, New York, 1967, p. 31-32, no. 26.

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