One of a group of three drawings in the Morgan’s collection that were reproduced in photographs in the dealer Stefano Bardini’s archive in Florence, and therefore probably once owned by him.1 The drawings appear to have been executed in Lombardy, ca. 1500-10.
Footnotes:
- Fahy 2000, 60. See also Morgan Library & Museum, New York, inv. I, 43 and I, 81.
Marcello Calogero has recognized that this is one of four drawings at the Morgan (including I, 8; I, 9; I, 43; and I, 81) -- all previously anonymous -- that can be attributed to the goldsmith and sculptor Bartolomeo Spani. The four sheets, and two others whose present whereabouts are unknown, were framed together when in the collection of Stefano Bardini in Florence. See Fahy, Everett, Dipinti, disegni, miniature, stampe / di Everett Fahy (Firenze: A. Bruschi, 2000), 60.
Watermark: none visible through lining.
Inscribed at upper right, in pen and brown ink, "3"[...; cut]; on verso, in graphite, "9"; "45" (encircled); "H"; note on mat: "Florentine."
Anonymous, Italian School, 15th cent., Formerly attributed to.
Master of the Codex Escurialensis, Circle of, Formerly attributed to.
Bardini, Stefano, 1836-1922, former owner.
Murray, Charles Fairfax, 1849-1919, former owner.
Morgan, J. Pierpont (John Pierpont), 1837-1913, former owner.
Morgan, J. P. (John Pierpont), 1867-1943, former owner.
Collection J. Pierpont Morgan : Drawings by the Old Masters Formed by C. Fairfax Murray. London : Privately printed, 1905-1912, I, 9 (as Italian school, XV century).
Fahy, Everett. Dipinti, disegni, miniature, stampe / di Everett Fahy. Firenze: A. Bruschi, 2000, 60 no. 653 (as circle of the Master of the Codex Escurialensis).