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A crayfish (recto)

Maker

(artist)
1503-1540

Title

A crayfish (recto)

Date of Production

(circa) 1531 - 1535

Medium

pen and brown ink, brown wash and white bodycolour (now oxidised) with evidence of brown ink framing lines that have been largely trimmed away (recto), pen and light and dark brown ink, white bodycolour (now oxidised), red chalk (verso) on laid paper

Dimensions

Height: 13.9 cm
Width: 7.4 cm

Accession Number

D.1978.PG.399

Mode of Acquisition

Count Antoine Seilern, bequest, 1978

Credit

The Courtauld, London (Samuel Courtauld Trust)

Copyright

Work in the public domain

Location

Not currently on display

Keywords

Label Text

Parmigianino deftly renders the shiny carapace of a crayfish with white opaque watercolour. He enhances its three-dimensionality through the play of shadows and a delicate light that envelops its body. This drawing is part of a series of designs Parmigianino made in preparation for the fresco decoration of the church of Santa Maria della Steccata in Parma. Beyond its preparatory function, it provides a prime example of the artist’s curiosity about the natural world, which animated his work throughout his career.

Provenance

probably Thomas Howard, Earl of Arundel (1585-1646) [known originator of Parmigianino drawings eventually owned by Armano]; by descent to Henry Stafford-Howard, 1st Earl of Stafford (1648-1719); his sale, Tart Hall, London, 1720; purchased there by Antonio Maria Zanetti, Venice (1680-1757); acquired from him by Giovanni Antonio Armano, Venice (active 1780s) (when etched by Francesco Rosaspina 'Dal Gabinetto del Sig. Gio. Antonio Armano'); Samuel Woodburn, London (1786-1853); his estate sale, Christie's (London), 12 June 1860, lot 1089 (lot inscribed on the blue paper backing now removed from the sheet and mounted with it; lot 1089 in the 1860 catalogue is 90 drawings listed as 'Miscellaneous Old Masters'); purchased there by Sir Thomas Phillips (1792-1872); Sotheby's (London), 26 June 1969, lot 2; purchased there by Colnaghi (London) on behalf of Count Antoine Seilern, London (1901-1978); Princes Gate Bequest 1978

See Popham 1971 for the provenance of Parmigianino drawings from Arundel. Many of Armano's Parmigianino drawings were then acquired by Baron Dominique-Vivant Denon, Paris (1747-1825), though this drawing does not appear in his 1826 sale catalogue.

Exhibition History

Drawings Gallery Display - The Art of Experiment: Parmigianino at The Courtauld, The Courtauld Gallery, London, 03/05/2022-06/05/2022

Parmigianino - Paintings, Drawings, Prints, The Courtauld Gallery, London, 14/05/1987-12/07/1987

Literature

The Art of Experiment: Parmigianino at The Courtauld, The Courtauld Gallery, London, 2022
cat. no. 7
and on pp. 68, 163-64
ill. on p. 65 (recto and verso), detail of verso on p. 67, detail is fig. 85 on p. 172

Parmigianino: dessins du Louvre, Musée du Louvre, Paris, 17 December 2015-15 February 2016 Paris 2015
p. 137 note 21

Da Parmigianino a Piazzetta: teste, animali e pensieri bizzari nei disegni della Galleria Estense, Palazzo Ducale, Guastalla, 2011
p. 144 ...More

Day, Richard, Artful Tales. The Unlikely and Implausible Journal of an Art Dealer, 1957 to 1997, published privately 2008
p. 143
does not reveal name of owner at 1969 sale

Gnann, Achim, Parmigianino: Die Zeichnungen, Petersberg 2007
vol. I, p 263 and vol. II, no. 802
ill. (recto and verso)

Vaccaro, Mary, Parmigianino: the paintings, Turin 2002
p. 189 under no. 37

Béguin,Sylvie, Mario Di Giampaolo and Mary Vaccaro, Parmigianino: the drawings, Turin 2000
p. 207

Ekserdjian, David, 'Unpublished drawings by Parmigianino: towards a supplement to Popham's catalogue raisonné' in 'Apollo', 1 Aug. 1999 - pp. 3-41; 150, 450
p. 41 note 69 (recto)

Bentini, Jadranka, Disegni da una grande collezione: antichi raccolte estensi dal Louvre dalla Galleria di Modena, Milan 1998
p. 64
author: Di Giampaolo

Parmigianino - Paintings, Drawings, Prints, Courtauld, London, 1987
cat. no. 28
ill. on p. 13

Rossi, Paola, L'opera completa del Parmigianino, Milan 1980
under no. 56
fig. 56 (recto)

Popham, A. E., Catalogue of the Drawings of Parmigianino, New Haven and London 1971
no. 815
pls. 318 (recto) and 319 (verso)
listed under 'Homeless' works with a note that Seilern purchased it as catalogue went to press

Ghidiglia Quintavalle, Augusta, Gli ultimi affreschi del Parmigianino, Milan 1971
p. 111
fig. 100

Seilern, Count Antoine, Recent Acquisitions at 56 Princes Gate, London SW7, London 1971; VI
no. 399
pl. IXa (recto), pl. IXb (verso)
dated c. 1531-35

Sotheby's, London, Important Old Master drawings, 26 June 1969
lot 2
ill. ...Less

Inscriptions

Watermark: none.

Collector's mark: none.

Inscription: Recto: upper centre, graphite: "73". On scrap of a former blue mount, now mounted with the drawing, graphite, Woodburn sale lot and price: “1089/90”.

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