PIETRO TESTA (LUCQUES 1612-1650 ROME) - photo 1

PIETRO TESTA (LUCQUES 1612-1650 ROME)

Lot 17
22.03.2023 15:00UTC +01:00
Classic
Starting price
€ 10 000
AuctioneerCHRISTIE'S
Event locationFrance, Paris
Archive
The auction is completed. No bids can be placed anymore.
Archive
ID 922533
Lot 17 | PIETRO TESTA (LUCQUES 1612-1650 ROME)
Estimate value
€ 10 000 – 15 000
PIETRO TESTA (LUCQUES 1612-1650 ROME)

Le combat des quatre éléments (recto) ; Esquisse d'une figure (verso)

avec inscription ‘P: Testa’ (en bas à gauche) et numéroté ‘21 (?)’ (en bas à droite)

pierre noire, plume et encre brune, sur papier bleu (lavis rose dans les angles ajouté postérieusement)

24 x 29,4 cm (9 1/2 x 11 5/8 in.)





Provenance

Pierre Crozat (1665-1740), Paris, avec son numéro associé ‘21’ (L. 3612).

Alfred Normand (1910-1993), Paris ; sa vente, Christie’s, Monaco, 30 juin 1995, lot 5.

Collectionneur anonyme (marque ‘FB’ avec feuille de ginkgo biloba, pas dans Lugt) (sur le montage).



Literature

B. Py, Les Dessins italiens de Pierre Crozat (1665-1740). L’œil de Mariette, Paris, 2015, p. 481 (en ligne, consulté le 5 janvier 2023).



Exhibited

Cambridge, Fitzwilliam Museum, Lisbonne, Centro Cultural de Belém, et Porto, Museu Nacional Soares dos Reis, European Master Drawings from Portuguese Collections, 2000, n° 54 (catalogue par N. Turner).

Madrid, Museo Nacional del Prado, Dibujos de Maestros Europeos en las Colecciones Portuguesas, 1500-1800, 2002, n° 32 (catalogue par N. Turner).



Post lot text

PIETRO TESTA, THE BATTLE OF THE FOUR ELEMENTS (RECTO), BLACK CHALK, PEN AND BROWN INK, PINK WASH ON BLUE PAPER

The drawing is an allegory of the combat of the four elements: Vulcan, depicted with his hammer, represents Fire; Juno with her peacock is Air; Cybele, with a crown in the shape of a castle on her head, is Earth; and a river god is the symbol of Water. The composition is an initial study for a group of figures that appear to the right in Pietro Testa’s elaborate etching of the Allegory of Summer, one of four large scale prints with the seasons created by the artist around 1642-1644 (fig. 1; see E. Cropper, Pietro Testa, 1612-1650. Prints and Drawings, exhib. cat., Philadelphia, Museum of Art, 1988, no. 76, ill.).
Two other drawings related to the same print exist: one at the Morgan Library and Museum in New York and another at the Teylers Museum in Haarlem (ibid., nos. 78 et 87, ill.). The present sheet was originally circular, but it has been cut down at top and bottom while the four corners were made up to transform it into a horizontal rectangle. The corners have been filled in with purple wash. These alterations may have occurred in the 18th Century when the drawing was in the collection of Pierre Crozat (Turner, op. cit., p. 126).
Fig. 1. Pietro Testa, Allegory of Summer, print, London, British Museum.
Address of auction CHRISTIE'S
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