Giovanni Battista Piranesi

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1720-1778

Studies for the Reliquary and Papal Altar at S. Giovanni al Laterano. Verso: Study for the Title Page of the Antichità d'Albano [drawing]

ca. 1763-1764. Verso: ca. 1762-1763.

Pen and brown ink, over traces of red chalk, on paper; verso: red chalk, over black chalk.

7 1/8 x 10 3/8 inches (180 x 264 mm)

Bequest of Junius S. Morgan and gift of Henry S. Morgan.

1966.11:71

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Inscription:

Inscribed on verso, in pen and brown ink, "[...]ASTEL GANDOLFO / [...] RITTE ED INCISE / DA / [...]AMBATISTA [...]RANESI."

Provenance:

Mrs. J.P. Morgan, New York; by descent to her sons Junius S. Morgan, Princeton and Paris (no mark, see Lugt 1536) and Henry S. Morgan, New York.

Bibliography:

Stampfle, Felice. Giovanni Battista Piranesi, Drawings in the Pierpont Morgan Library. New York : Dover, 1978, no. 71, repr.

Notes:

As Bert Sorensen (2001) first recognized, the drawings on the recto of this sheet relate to Piranesi's proposed designs for the reliquary housing the heads of Sts. Peter and Paul at the Lateran basilica, the final form of which is seen in Tavola 23 in the set of Piranesi drawings at Columbia University's Avery Library.
The verso is a fragment of Piranesi's preparatory study for the title page of "Antichit ̉d'Albano e di Castel Gandolfo," 1764, f. 505.

Associated names:

Morgan, Jane Norton, 1868-1925, former owner.
Morgan, Junius Spencer, 1892-1960, former owner.
Morgan, Henry S. (Henry Sturgis), 1900-1982, former owner.

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Piranesi, Giovanni Battista

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