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Study of a Dromedary

Study of a Dromedary

Anoniem (in circa 1501-1600)

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Specifications

Title Study of a Dromedary
Material and technique Black chalk, pen and brown ink
Object type
Drawing > Two-dimensional object > Art object
Location This object is in storage
Dimensions Height 207 mm
Width 186 mm
Artists Draughtsman: Anoniem
Copy after: Semolei (Giovanni Battista Franco)
Accession number I 477 (PK)
Credits Loan Stichting Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen (former Koenigs collection), 1940
Department Drawings & Prints
Acquisition date 1940
Creation date in circa 1501-1600
Watermark none (vH, 7P)
Collector Collector / Franz Koenigs
Mark F.W. Koenigs (L.1023a) on removed backing sheet
Provenance Francesco Calzolari, Verona; Count Lodovico Moscardo, Verona; sold by his descendants to Luigi Grassi in 1905; Art dealer Luigi Grassi (1858-1937, L.1171b), Florence; Frits Lugt, Maartensdijk, bought on 20.10.1929, sold to Koenigs; Franz W. Koenigs (1881-1941, L.1023a), Haarlem, acquired in 1930 (Venetian, early 16th century); D.G. van Beuningen (1877-1955), Rotterdam, acquired with the Koenigs Collection in 1940 and donated to Stichting Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen
Research Show research Italian Drawings 1400-1600
Material
Object
Geographical origin Italy > Southern Europe > Europe

Entry catalogue Italian Drawings 1400-1600

Author: Klazina Botke

Franz Koenigs acquired this drawing as early sixteenth-century Venetian. Based on a comparison with a virtually identical drawing in London, the sheet was later attributed to Giovanni Battista Franco (1498/1515-c.1561).[1] In 1983 Gere and Pouncey associated this London drawing with another study of three dromedaries, also in London, that could be securely attributed to Franco.[2] The three animals appear in the same positions in his print Gathering Manna (c.1530-60), in one of his drawn designs for a majolica dish in London and in his drawing of the embarkation of the Greek fleet in Paris.[3] However, the relationship between the two standing dromedaries in Rotterdam and London and the drawings attributed to Franco with certainty is not convincing. The animals resemble one another, but there are some crucial differences. In Franco’s drawings the dromedary is in a different position and has two split hooves instead of toes on its hind legs. This was a very frequent mistake; Baccio Bandinelli (1488-1560) and Maarten van Heemskerck (1498-1574) both depicted the animal with split hooves.[4] Sixteenth-century artists often used the dromedary, introduced into Europe in the eleventh century, as exotic staffage and to alert the viewer to the fact that the scene was set in the Middle East. The animal was seldom found in Italy, so studies were rarely done from a living model. Franco also evidently had no knowledge of the correct anatomy of the animal and depicted his version with toes and hooves. The Rotterdam dromedary, by contrast, is correctly shown: we see four legs, all with two toes and nails. This makes it unlikely that this drawing is a copy after Franco’s drawing. There is, moreover, an offset of a standing cow on the sheet, rotated 180 degrees.

Footnotes

[1] British Museum, inv. 1946,0713.348 (copy after Franco); Gere/Pouncey 1983, no. 151.

[2] British Museum, inv. SL,5237.86 (Franco); Gere/Pouncey 1983, nos. 151 and 117.

[3] Bartsch XVI.119.4; copy in Amsterdam, Rijksmuseum, inv. RP-P-OB-39.052; Popham was the first to remark on this, see Popham 1927-28, p. 22; British Museum, inv. 1860,0616.39 (Franco); Musée du Louvre, inv. 4954 r (Franco); Lauder 2009, no. 42.

[4] Oxford, Christ Church, inv. 0093 (Bandinelli); Lloyd 1969, pp. 373-74; Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen, inv. N 180 (Van Heemskerck).

Show research Italian Drawings 1400-1600
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