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Study for Proposed Alteration of San Giovanni in Laterano, with Forechoir and Expanded Choir Aedicule, and a Sketch of Putti. Verso: Sketch for pedimented niche of choir wall and part of a ground plan

Giovanni Battista Piranesi
1720-1778

Study for Proposed Alteration of San Giovanni in Laterano, with Forechoir and Expanded Choir Aedicule, and a Sketch of Putti. Verso: Sketch for pedimented niche of choir wall and part of a ground plan

ca. 1763-1764
13 11/16 x 10 1/4 inches (349 x 260 mm)
Pen and brown ink, with gray wash, over graphite, on paper; verso: graphite.
1966.11:58

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

Notes
This quick sketch is a refinement of a scheme first developed in 1966.11:57. In that drawing, a square panel appears above the aedicule of the choir wall, but that is eliminated here. The scheme is also represented by the Tavola Quinta among the finished presentation drawings now at Columbia University's Avery Library.
The putti, drawn with the paper turned 180 degrees, do not relate to any of the Lateran design schemes seen in the Morgan drawings, but they likely correspond to the angels with garlands and banderoles found in a number of related drawings at Columbia University's Avery Library; see also a related sketch of putti at the Staatliche Kunsthalle, Karlsruhe, inv. IX 5159-36-2-4. Another drawing at the Morgan, inv. 1966.11:110, was once joined to this sheet.
Inscriptions/Markings
Numbered at lower edge, in graphite, "53".
Watermark: Fleur-de-lis inside double circle, monogram "CB" above, centered on chain line.
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.
Bibliography
Stampfle, Felice. Giovanni Battista Piranesi, Drawings in the Pierpont Morgan Library. New York : Dover, 1978, no. 58, repr.
Classification
Century Drawings
School
Department