Giovanni Battista Piranesi

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1720-1778

Roman Theater Mask

1776-1777

Pen and brown ink on paper.

4 1/4 x 3 1/8 inches (107 x 79 mm)

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

1966.11:45

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Notes:

On same mat as 1966.11:44.
Together with 1966.11:43 and 44, this study, drawn in Piranesi's late style, dates from his time in Pompeii near the end of his life. The mask is similar to those found in many paintings, mosaics, and tombs at Pompeii, for example the masks at the tomb of the Istacidi family, located outside the city's Herculaneum Gate (show in situ in another of Piranesi's views, a sheet now in Copenhagen). This drawing was once part of the same sheet at 1966.11:44.

Inscription:

Numbered at lower left, in graphite, "71".

Provenance:

Mrs. J.P. Morgan, New York; by descent to her sons Junius S. Morgan, Princeton and Paris (no mark, see Lugt 1536) and Henry S. Morgan, New York.

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. 45, repr.

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Piranesi, Giovanni Battista

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