Giovanni Battista Piranesi
1720-1778
Seated Man Holding a Drawing Board
ca. 1770-1775
11 5/8 x 8 1/4 inches (295 x 209 mm)
Pen and brown ink over red chalk with extraneous marks in graphite.
2017.192
Thaw Collection.
Notes
This atypically large figure study appears to capture one of Piranesi's assistants holding a board or tablet and sketching outdoors, to judge from the man's cap and cloak. The drawing was made quickly with a thick pen, and the man's features and left arm are distorted. As is often the case in Piranesi's figure sketches, he was evidently more interested in capturing a moment of activity than in accurately depicting anatomy.
Inscriptions/Markings
Illegible inscription [cut off] by the artist at left, in red chalk; computations in black chalk; inscribed at lower right, in graphite, "Guardi".
Associated names
Springell, Francis C., former owner.
Springell, Francis C., Mrs., former owner.
Thaw, Eugene Victor, former owner.
Thaw, Clare, former owner.
Springell, Francis C., Mrs., former owner.
Thaw, Eugene Victor, former owner.
Thaw, Clare, former owner.
Bibliography
The Morgan Library & Museum, New York, NY, "Drawn to Greatness: Master Drawings from the Thaw Collection", 2017. Exh. cat., no. 293, repr.
Denison, Cara D. et al. Drawings from the Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Eugene Victor Thaw. Part II. New York : Pierpont Morgan Library, 1985, no. 23.
Denison, Cara D. et al. Drawings from the Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Eugene Victor Thaw. Part II. New York : Pierpont Morgan Library, 1985, no. 23.
Artist
Classification
Century Drawings
School
Catalog link
Department