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Aeneas and a Child (recto)

Maker

(artist)
1475-1564

(artist)
1509-1566

Title

Date of Production

(circa) 1555 - 1556

Medium

black chalk (recto and verso) on laid paper, unevenly trimmed; the verso shows remnants of adhesive and brown streaks, likely from having been laid down in an album or mount at some former point

Dimensions

Height: 10 cm
Width: 7.5 cm

Accession Number

D.1978.PG.425

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

This small sketch, rapidly executed in black chalk, was probably cut from a larger sheet and shows the Trojan hero Aeneas attended by a child. According to the Aeneid by the classical Roman poet Virgil, Aeneas was urged by the god Mercury to leave his lover Dido and follow his mission to build the city of Rome. The scene was rendered in a painting by Daniele da Volterra, one of Michelangelo’s friends during the last years of his career. The group of Aeneas and the child in the painting, identified as either Cupid or an attendant of Aeneas, is closely related to this drawing by Michelangelo, who assisted Daniele with several such sketches.

Provenance

Baron Horace de Landau, Florence and Paris (1824-1903) (according to Max de Beer, who owned a number of drawings from the same group to which this sheet belonged, see British Museum record for 1956,1013.20); Ferruccio Asta, Venice (1900-1952), L.116a; acquired directly from him by Dr and Mrs Victor Bloch, London, by 1949 (again see British Museum record); their sale, Sotheby's (London), 12 November 1964, lot 32; purchased there by Colnaghi (London) on behalf of Count Antoine Seilern (1901-1978); Princes Gate Bequest 1978 See Long description for provenance notes.

Exhibition History

The Triumph of the Body: Michelangelo and Sixteenth Century Italian Draughtsmanship, Museum of Fine Arts, Budapest, 05/04/2019-30/06/2019

L'atelier du l'oeuvre, Musee Fabre, Montpellier, 16/02/2013-12/05/2013

Special Display - Looking at Michelangelo, The Courtauld Gallery, London, 11/02/2010-06/06/2010 ...More

Drawings by Michelangelo, British Museum, London, 15/04/1953-28/06/1953 ...Less

Literature

The Triumph of the Body: Michelangelo and Sixteenth Century Italian Draughtsmanship, Museum of Fine Arts, Budapest, 2019
cat. no. 64 (recto)
p. 380
ill. as no. 64 (recto) and fig. 119 on p. 380 (verso)
dated c. 1555

Christie's, London, Brian Sewell: Critic & Collector, 27 September 2016
p. 15 under lot 7

L'atelier de l'oeuvre. Dessins italiens du Musée Fabre, Musée Fabre, Montpellier, 2013
p. 144 under no. 30
fig. 10 (recto) and fig. 11 (verso) ...More

Michelangelo: the drawings of a genius, Albertina, Vienna, 2010
pp. 378, 382

Daniele da Volterra: amico di Michelangelo, Casa Buonarroti, Florence, 2003
p. 348 under no. 21

Joannides, Paul, 'Daniele da Volterra's "Dido"' in 'The Burlington Magazine', Dec. 1993 - pp. 818-819; 135, 1089
p. 819

Perrig, Alexander, Michelangelo's drawings: the science of attribution, New Haven 1991
pp. 102, 108
attributes the recto to Daniele da Volterra

Jaffé, David, 'Daniele da Volterra's satirical defence of his art' in 'Journal of the Warburg and Courtauld Institutes', 1991 - pp. 247-52; 54
p. 252
pl. 67c

Hirst, Michael, Michelangelo and his drawings, London 1988
pp. 39-40
tentatively attributed verso to Daniele da Volterra

Pouncey, Philip and J.A. Gere, Italian drawings in the Department of Prints and Drawings in the British Museum [Artists working in Rome c.1550-c.1640/], London 1983
p. 66 under no. 89

de Tolnay, Charles, Corpus dei disegni di Michelangelo, Novara 1975-80
vol. 3, p. 44, no. 377
tentatively attributed verso to Michelangelo

Hartt, Frederick, Michelangelo drawings, New York and London 1970/71; repr. 1975
no. 475
as by Michelangelo, with title 'Aeneas and Dido'

Sotheby's, London, Important old master drawings, 12 November 1964
lot 32
ill.

Dussler, Luitpold, Die Zeichnungen des Michelangelo: kritischer Katalog, Berlin 1959
p. 182, no. 334 and p. 166 under no. 297
fig. 254
accepted as by Michelangelo

Drawings by Michelangelo, British Museum, London, 1953
cat. no. 130

de Tolnay, Charles, Michelangelo, Princeton 1943-60; 5 vols.
vol. 5, p. 201, no. 210
figs. 192, 193
accepted as by Michelangelo, dated c. 1545 ...Less

Inscriptions

Watermark: none.

Inscription: Verso: lower left, graphite, Colnaghi number: "D27882".

Collector's mark: Recto: lower right, stamped in black: Ferruccio Asta (L.116a).

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