Battista Franco

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Battista Franco
1510?-1561
Triumph of the Christian Hero
ca. 1552-1555
Pen and brown ink, over black chalk, on paper.
13 5/8 x 15 1/2 inches (345 x 394 mm)
Gift of Janos Scholz.
1982.39
Notes: 

Watermark: none visible through lining.
Formerly attributed to Ambrogio Figino (1548-1608).
Connected with the chiaroscuro print of 1610, "A Christian Hero" (B.XIII, 136, no. 14) by Andrea Andreani (active ca. 1580-ca. 1610).

Inscription: 

Numbered at upper right, in pen and brown ink, "160"; inscribed at lower left, in pen and brown ink, "figino"; on verso, visible through lining, "[illegible] / G. Antonio Vecchini come Prova delle Ercl".

Provenance: 
Possibly Benno Geiger (1882-1965), Vienna; probably his sale, Venice, 25 January 1952; Cassini, Venice; from whom purchased in 1954 by János Scholz (1903-1993), New York (no mark; see Lugt S. 2933b).
Associated names: 

Figino, Giovanni Ambrogio, 1552 or 1553-1608, Formerly attributed to.
Geiger, Benno, 1882-1965, former owner.
Cassini, former owner.
Scholz, János, former owner.

Bibliography: 

Selected references: Oakland and elsewhere 1956, no. 36 (as Figino); Washington and New York 1973-74, no. 103, (as Franco); Fellows Report, 1984, 259 (as Franco); Lauder, in Ames-Lewis 2003, 105; Lauder 2009, 239, under no. 70, 244, under no. 73; 268, under no. 93; 275, under no. 99; New York 2019, 31-32.
Oberhuber, Konrad, and Dean Walker. Sixteenth Century Italian Drawings From the Collection of János Scholz. Washington, D.C. : National Gallery of Art ; New York : Pierpont Morgan Library, 1973, no. 103, repr.
Ryskamp, Charles, ed. Twentieth Report to the Fellows of the Pierpont Morgan Library, 1981-1983. New York : Pierpont Morgan Library, 1984, p. 259.

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