Watermark: letters "AC" and star, inside double oval, surrounded by scrollwork shield.
Produced at the end of Domenico Tiepolo's life, this sheet belonged to a sequence, now dispersed, of 104 drawings illustrating the life of Punchinello, a commedia dell'arte character who in Domenico Tiepolo's series came to represent everyman. This sheet, the ninety-ninth in the series, depicts the death of Punchinello, whose recumbent figure is based upon a caricature by the artist's father that is also now in the Morgan's collection (inv. 2017.241). Both the doctor taking Punchinello's pulse and the one seated nearby have asses' ears, emblematic of foolishness. -- Exhibition Label, from "Drawn to Greatness: Master Drawings from the Thaw Collection"
Numbered at upper left corner, in point of brush and brown ink, "9" contemporary with and possibly by Domenico (according to Vetrocq 1979-83, p. 10). Signed at lower left, "Dom.o Tiepolo f".
Owen, Richard former owner.
Suzor, Léonce, former owner.
Lehman, Robert, 1892-1969, former owner.
Thaw, Eugene Victor, former owner.
Thaw, Clare, former owner.
Thaw Catalogue Raisonné, 2017, no. 381, repr.
Stampfle, Felice, and Cara D. Denison. Drawings from the Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Eugene V. Thaw. New York : Pierpont Morgan Library, 1975, no. 63, repr. (also in Thaw III, no. 40)
Denison, Cara D. et al. The Thaw Collection : Master Drawings and New Acquisitions. New York : Pierpont Morgan Library, 1994, no. 40.