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 Ornament. Verso: sketches of ornament

Giovanni Battista Piranesi
1720-1778

Sketches of Ornament. Verso: sketches of ornament

ca. 1742-1743[?]
8 5/16 x 11 inches (211 x 279 mm)
Black chalk on paper; verso: black chalk.
1966.11:123

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

Notes
Mario Bevilacqua, "The Young Piranesi: The Itineraries of His Formation," 2006, suggests, on the basis of the inscription, that these might be sketches done by Piranesi during his first trip to Naples in 1742-43.
Inscriptions/Markings
Inscribed at upper left, in pen and brown ink, "Lume di metallo / S. Lorenzo alla strada // alla Salita Monte Ollivetto / Carlini / g"; numbered at upper right, in graphite, "35"; on verso, "gros[s]o a piu // spado // meno".
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. 123, repr.
Classification
Century Drawings
School
Department