Giovanni Battista Piranesi

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Giovanni Battista Piranesi

1720-1778

Design for a Chimneypiece with Masks, a Bird, and a Rabbit. Verso: View of the Temple of Castor and Pollux at Cori

ca. 1764-1767. Verso: 1763

Pen and brown ink, over red chalk, on paper; verso: red chalk and black chalk in capital.

7 15/16 x 12 1/4 inches (203 x 311 mm)

Bequest of Junius S. Morgan and gift of Henry S. Morgan.

1966.11:66

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Notes:

Drawing on verso is a study for the right side of the etching, "Rovine del Tempio de' Castori nella citta di Cora," in "Antichita' di Cora," 1764, f. 541. That drawing was probably made on site when Piranesi visited Cori with Hubert Robert in 1763.
While some of the Morgan's drawings relate to the published plates of the Diverse maniere, others represent further ideas and variations for chimneypiece designs. This is one of several designs that highlight natural forms, like the bird at left and the creature at lower right, which Piranesi identified with an inscription as a coniglio, or rabbit.

Inscription:

Numbered at upper right, inverted, in graphite, "84"; inscribed on verso, within temple entablature, in red chalk, "CASTORI.POLLVCI. DEC.S.FAC / M.CALVIVS.M.F.P.N.".
Watermark: Fleur-de-lis in double circle.

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.

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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. 66, repr.

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Piranesi, Giovanni Battista

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