Francesco da Ponte Bassano

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Francesco da Ponte Bassano
1549-1592
Kneeling Woman with Tools in Her Hands
Black chalk, with white chalk, on light brown paper.
11 x 14 3/4 inches (279 x 375 mm)
Purchased by Pierpont Morgan (1837-1913) in 1909.
I, 75a
Description: 

Kneeling figures of this type appear in scores of paintings by the Bassano family—compare for example the woman at lower right in Francesco Bassano’s Calvary in the Musée du Louvre—but this particular kneeling woman has not yet been linked to a specific canvas. Although probably the work of Francesco, an alternate attribution to Leandro Bassano has also been proposed.

Notes: 

Watermark: none visible through lining.

Inscription: 

Inscribed on verso of lining, at lower center, in graphite, "71; 10"; on mount, underneath the drawing, in pen and brown ink, "[plus sign in a circle] 62".

Provenance: 
Possibly Sir Henry Hawley; his sale Christie's, London, 16 July 1891, part of lot 211 as Bassano "Study of a Figure, by Bassano; and other drawings [9 in total]"; (bought by Murray for £2.6.0); Charles Fairfax Murray (1849-1919), London and Florence; from whom purchased through Galerie Alexandre Imbert, Rome, in 1909 by Pierpont Morgan (1837-1913), New York (no mark; see Lugt 1509); his son, J. P. Morgan, Jr. (1867-1943), New York.
Associated names: 

Bassano, Leandro da Ponte, 1557-1622, Alternate attribution.
Murray, Charles Fairfax, 1849-1919, former owner.
Morgan, J. Pierpont (John Pierpont), 1837-1913, former owner.

Bibliography: 

Toledo 1940, no. 72; Tietze and Tietze-Conrat 1944, 45, no. 98.
Collection J. Pierpont Morgan : Drawings by the Old Masters Formed by C. Fairfax Murray. London : Privately printed, 1905-1912, I, 75a, repr.

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