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Design for grotesque ornaments

Maker

Attributed to
(artist)
1477-1523

Title

Medium

red chalk, pen and brown ink on laid paper

Dimensions

Height: 22.5 cm
Width: 33.4 cm

Accession Number

D.1952.RW.4552

Mode of Acquisition

Robert Clermont Witt, bequest, 1952

Credit

The Courtauld, London (Samuel Courtauld Trust)

Copyright

Work in the public domain

Location

Not currently on display

Keywords

Label Text

A large number of Cesare da Sesto’s surviving drawings show him experimenting with grottesco or antique motifs. The present sheet may date from around 1511 when he worked as an assistant to Baldassare Peruzzi at Cardinal Raffaele Riario’s palace at Ostia, the harbour city of ancient Rome. Probably intended to be executed in stucco, these scrolls of foliage, masks and satyrs were inspired by the discovery of Roman frescoes in the Golden House of Emperor Nero.

Provenance

Feruccio Asta, Venice (1900-1952), L.116a; Helene de Beer, London (1898-1984) [probably acquired directly from Asta by her husband, London dealer Max de Beer, as was the case for drawings at the British Museum like 1956,1013.20]; purchased from her by Colnaghi (London), 22 March 1949; purchased there by Sir Robert Witt, London (1872-1952), L.2228b, 20 October 1951 (£16); Witt Bequest 1952 See Long Description for more on provenance.

Exhibition History

Special Display - Renaissance drawings, The Courtauld Gallery, London, 29/01/2009-20/05/2009

Decorative Arts of the Italian Renaissance 1400-1600, Detroit Institute of Art, Detroit, USA, 18/11/1958-04/01/1959

Inscriptions

Watermark: Watermark: none.

Inscription: Recto: upper left corner, brown ink: “25”; upper left, brown ink “54”. Verso (on remnant of former backing sheet, now removed except for a strip along the bottom of the sheet): lower left, graphite: “CP.16”; lower centre, graphite: “1085”; lower right, graphite, Colnaghi number and price: “A 16293 / TE/-/-”. Mount (removed): Recto: upper right, graphite: "ferruccio aslni 11 6a". Verso: upper left, graphite: "A16293 / £20"; centre, graphite: "Cesari da Sesto / cf: Pierpont Morgan Sketchbook"

Collector's mark: Recto: lower left corner, stamped in black ink: Ferruccio Asta (L.116a). Verso (on remnant of a former backing sheet, now removed except for a strip along the bottom of the sheet): lower left corner, stamped in black ink: Sir Robert Witt (L.2228b).

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