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Pier Francesco Mola
1612-1666
Hanging of a Donkey
Pen and brown ink, with brown wash, over black chalk, on paper.
8 15/16 x 14 7/16 inches (226 x 367 mm)
Gift of Janos Scholz.
1981.98
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Notes:
Watermark: star within a circle, surmounted by a cross (similar to Heawood 3874).
The story behind this caricature is unclear, but the central figure is surely Mola's friend Niccolò Simonelli (who appears in many drawings by the artist), and conversely, the donkey appears in another of Mola's caricatures (inv. 1981.97) as one of the attendants at the bedside of an ailing Simonelli.
Inscription:
Numbered at lower right, "35".
Provenance:
Bolognese Caricature Album; Walter Hugelshofer, Zurich; Janos Scholz, New York (see Lugt S. 2933b).
Associated names:
Hugelshofer, Walter, 1899- former owner.
Scholz, János, former owner.
Bibliography:
Ryskamp, Charles, ed. Twentieth Report to the Fellows of the Pierpont Morgan Library, 1981-1983. New York : Pierpont Morgan Library, 1984, p. 278.
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