Plan your visit. 225 Madison Avenue at 36th Street, New York, NY 10016.

Plan your visit. 225 Madison Avenue at 36th Street, New York, NY 10016.

Sketches of Balustrade, Column, and Garland. Verso: Sketches of Balustrade and Cornucopia

Giovanni Battista Piranesi
1720-1778

Sketches of Balustrade, Column, and Garland. Verso: Sketches of Balustrade and Cornucopia

ca. 1775-1778
5 x 10 1/4 inches (127 x 260 mm)
Pen and brown ink on paper; verso: pen and brown ink.
1966.11:119

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

Notes
One of a series of late drawings by Piranesi showing vases and other decorative objects not as isolated design studies, but rather set within compositions - in this example perhaps in a garden, given the indication of "piante" (plants); see also 1966.11:116 and 1966.11:118. The function of these drawings is unclear, for they do not relate to any of Piranesi's printed works.
On same mat as 1966.11:116.
Inscriptions/Markings
Inscribed at left, in pen and brown ink, "giocoliere"; at right, "piante"; numbered at lower center, in graphite, "33"; inscribed on verso, in pen and brown ink, "due cornucopi".
Watermark: Six-pointed star inside circle, surmounted by a cross, centered on chain line, fragment.
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. 119.
Classification
Department