Italian School

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Italian School

18th century

Adoration of the Virgin and Child

Pen and brown ink, over black chalk, on paper.

18 11/16 x 12 5/16 inches (475 x 312 mm)

Purchased by Pierpont Morgan (1837-1913) in 1909.

III, 247

Notes:

Long ago considered the work of Giovanni Battista Tiepolo, this sheet entered the Morgan collection in 1909 as an anonymous eighteenth-century Italian drawing. In 1994, Ugo Ruggieri recognized it as the work of Mattia Bortoloni (1696-1750), an artist much influenced by the young Tiepolo. The drawing corresponds to an oil sketch by Bortoloni sold (erroneously as the work of Tiepolo) at Sotheby's, London, 2 December 1964, lot 107, the present whereabouts of which are unknown; both the drawing and oil sketch must have been preparatory for an otherwise untraced altarpiece.

Provenance:

Charles Fairfax Murray (1849-1919), London and Florence; from whom purchased through Galerie Alexandre Imbert, Rome, in 1909 by Pierpont Morgan (1837-1913), New York (no mark; see Lugt 1509); his son, J. P. Morgan, Jr. (1867-1943), New York.

Associated names:

Murray, Charles Fairfax, 1849-1919, former owner.
Morgan, J. Pierpont (John Pierpont), 1837-1913, former owner.

Bibliography:

Collection J. Pierpont Morgan : Drawings by the Old Masters Formed by C. Fairfax Murray. London : Privately printed, 1905-1912, III, 247, repr.

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