masterdrawingsmanhattan Master Drawings Manhattan has been working in the art market since 2005 and principally sells Fine Master Drawings from the seventeenth century to early twentieth centuries.
Description
PIETRO BERRETTINI
KNOWN AS PIETRO DA CORTONA
1596 CORTONA – 1669 ROME
CALLIOPE AND MELPOMENE
A study for a frieze or corner pendentive, or decorative ceiling panel, in the Palazzo Pitti, as indicated in ink on the verso. This study illustrates the fluidity of pen and ink drawing by one of the Renaissance’s great master draughtsmen, Pietro da Cortona, whom many consider one of the luminaries of the Italian Baroque, both as painter and architect. Along with his contemporaries and rivals, Gian Lorenzo Bernini and Francesco Borromini, he was one of the key figures in the emergence of Roman Baroque architecture.
DETAILS
Brown ink on laid paper under mat. Paper tear at top, not affecting drawing and invisible when matted. Prof. Dr. Viviana Farina, an expert in Italian Baroque art, has authenticated this work as a study by Pietro da Cortona. We are grateful to the scholar for confirming the authenticity of the drawing and its companion (for sale on this same site) recognizing them as preparatory sheets for the ceiling of the “Apollo Room” in the Pitti Palace. A virtually identical drawing in the Edinburgh Museum had already been unanimously accepted as an autograph of Pietro da Cortona. Prof. Farina has also demonstrated that the handwritten note underneath the drawing, which reads “Pietro da Cortona”, is due to the Oratorian Father Sebastiano Resta. He was one of the greatest, if not the most important collector of drawings between the end of the 17th and the beginning of the 18th century. The professor’s studies are available upon request.
Verso notation, “Di Pietro da Cortona nel Palazzo di Pitti” is a reference to the ceiling pendentives at the Pitti Palace. Full documentation and article on the discovery of the pair of Cortona pendentives is available upon sale of the drawing(s). Available singly, or as a pair.
DIMENSIONS: 212,7 x 158,7 mm (8 3/8″ x 6 1/4″); with mount, 381 x 320,7 mm (15″ x 12 5/8″).
“Di Pietro da Cortona nel Palazzo di Pitti”
