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Design for a ceiling decoration

Maker

(artist)
died 1592

Title

Medium

chalk (black), pen and ink (brown), wash (brown) with some grey wash on on verso (which shows through to recto at left centre as white), now laid down on Japanese tissue

Dimensions

Height: 22.8 cm
Width: 38.9 cm

Accession Number

D.1952.RW.465

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

Lombardelli worked in Rome during the 1570s and 1580s, assisting Raffaellino da Reggio with frescoes in the Vatican. The present design shows his use of classical themes to break up the expanse of a wooden ceiling into decorative compartments. In the centre, around which a balustrade invites us to imagine the ceiling opening onto the heavens, Apollo drives his chariot. Around the edges, figures representing the Liberal Arts are interspersed with grottesco ornament and mythological scenes.

Provenance

William Amhurst Tyssen-Amherst, 1st Baron Amherst of Hackney (1835-1909); by descent to his wife, Margaret Susan Mitford (1835-1919); perhaps her estate sale, London, Sotheby's, 14 December 1921; purchased there by Sir Robert Witt, London (1872-1952) (£1.3); Witt Bequest 1952

Exhibition History

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

Gloria dell'Arte, Philbrook Art Centre, Tulsa, 28/10/1979-27/01/1980

Literature

Grisolia, Francesco, 'Per Giovan Battista Lombardelli, Pasquale Cati e Vespasiano Strada Disegnatori' in 'Paragone', 2010 (Jul.-Sep.); LXI, 3rd series, No. 92-93 (725-727)
p. 15

Philbrook Art Centre, Tulsa, Oklahoma, 1980, Gloria dell'arte: a Renaissance perspective, 1980
no. 76

Gloria dell'Arte, Philbrook Art Centre, Tulsa, 1979 / 1980
cat. no. 76

Inscriptions

Signature: Recto: lower centre edge, pen and brown ink, signed by the artist?: Gio: Batta Montano detto della Marca

Collector's mark: On former paper now detached from the mount and kept separately: Sir Robert Witt (L.2228b).

Watermark: centre: undefined shape - an animal/bird? or coat of arms?

Label: Detached from old mount, now kept separately from file: upper right corner: 8. in ink and 37 in graphite. Verso: centre: 4 x. . Large sheet of paper possibly used as material for restoration.

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