According to Janos Scholz’s records, the drawing was acquired together with six studies by Giorgio Vasari.1 The drawings by Vasari relate to his fresco decorations, ca. 1553, for Bindo Altoviti’s villa in Rome. The present drawing, however, is clearly by a different, as yet unknown, hand.
Footnotes:
- Morgan Library & Museum, New York, inv. 1984.61.1; 1984.61.2; 1984.62.1; 1984.62.2; 1984.64.1; 1984.64.2.
Watermark: none.
Acquired as Giorgio Vasari.
One of six studies for a vaulted ceiling decoration. Although the specific project has not yet been identified, it has been tentatively related to a commission for the decoration of a loggia that Vasari received on 14 April 1545 from Don Pietro Tolledo, Viceroy of Naples (see Age of Vasari, no. D32).
Inscribed on verso, modern hand, in graphite: "G Vasari/Genoise 1965".
Vasari, Giorgio, 1511-1574, Formerly attributed to.
Moscardo family, former owner.
Calceolari, Marquis de, former owner.
Saint-Saphorin, Armand-François-Louis de Mestral de, 1738-1805, former owner.
Marmier, André, former owner.
Scholz, János, former owner.
Selected references: Washington and New York 1973-74, no. 28 (as Vasari); Fellows Report 1989, 386 (as Vasari).
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. 28, repr.
Ryskamp, Charles, ed. Twenty-First Report to the Fellows of the Pierpont Morgan Library, 1984-1986. New York : Pierpont Morgan Library, 1989, p. 386.