Sassoferrato

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Sassoferrato
1609-1685
Portrait of a Cleric
Black and red chalks, with white chalk, on blue laid paper.
10 7/16 x 7 1/2 inches (265 x 191 mm)
Gift of Janos Scholz.
1980.74
Notes: 

Watermark: none.
This moving likeness of a cleric is by Giovanni Battista Salvi, called Sassoferrato, after his place of birth, a town in the Marche of central Italy. Although best known for his sharply rendered images of the Virgin and Child, Sassoferrato was also a gifted portraitist, and this sober yet sympathetic portrayal of the unidentified sitter is typical of his work in the genre. Particularly interesting is the way the artist used the blue sheet to represent the cleric's eye color. -- Exhibition Label, from "Life Lines: Portrait Drawings from Dürer to Picasso."

Provenance: 
Giovanni Piancastelli, Rome (no mark; see Lugt S. 2078a); Edward and Mary Brandegee, Boston (Lugt S. 1860c); Janos Scholz, New York (see Lugt S. 2933b).
Associated names: 

Piancastelli, Giovanni, 1845-1926, former owner.
Brandegee, Edward, former owner.
Brandegee, Mary, former owner.
Scholz, János, former owner.

Bibliography: 

Ryskamp, Charles, ed. Nineteenth Report to the Fellows of the Pierpont Morgan Library, 1978-1980. New York : Pierpont Morgan Library, 1981, p. 214.
Scholz, Janos. Italian Master Drawings, 1350-1800, from the János Scholz Collection. New York : Dover, 1976, no. 100, repr.

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