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Giovanni Battista Piranesi
1720-1778
Fantasy of a Villa with a Garden
Pen and brown ink, with gray-brown wash, over black chalk, on laid paper; verso: pen and brown and brown wash, over black chalk.
4 7/8 x 7 7/16 inches (124 x 190 mm)
Bequest of Junius S. Morgan and gift of Henry S. Morgan.
1966.11:1
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Notes:
Watermark: None
A very early drawing by Piranesi, this was probaby done after he had arrived in Rome but before he began the studies for the Prima Parte d'Architetture. It is not clear whether the fragmentary drawing on the verso is by Piranesi himself.
Inscription:
Numbered at lower left, in graphite, "109".
Provenance:
Mrs. J.P. Morgan, New York; by descent to her sons Junius S. Morgan, Princeton and Paris (no mark, see Lugt 1536) and Henry S. Morgan, New York.
Associated names:
Morgan, Jane Norton, 1868-1925, former owner.
Morgan, Junius Spencer, 1892-1960, former owner.
Morgan, Henry S. (Henry Sturgis), 1900-1982, former owner.
Bibliography:
Stampfle, Felice. Giovanni Battista Piranesi, Drawings in the Pierpont Morgan Library. New York : Dover, 1978, no. 1, repr.
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