The Personification of Fortitude

Copy after: Giovanni dal Ponte (in circa 1475-1500)

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Specifications

Title	The Personification of Fortitude
Material and technique	Pen and brown ink, brown wash, heightened with white, on green-blue prepared paper (verso: light gray-purple prepared paper)
Object type	Drawing > Two-dimensional object > Art object
Location	This object is in storage

Dimensions	Height 141 mm Width 96 mm
Artists	Copy after: Giovanni dal Ponte Previously attributed: Pesellino (Francesco di Stefano)
Accession number	I 533 (PK)
Credits	Loan Stichting Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen (former Koenigs collection), 1940
Department	Drawings & Prints
Acquisition date	1940
Creation date	in circa 1475-1500
Watermark	none (vH, 3P)
Inscriptions	'Benozzo Gozolli? 1420-1498' (removed mount, below right, pencil), 'Ecole Florentine XVI', '97 x 140' (idem, verso, above right, pencil), 'nr. 129 Vente Drouot 28.11.28' (idem, verso, centre right, pencil), '40' (idem, verso, above left, pencil), 'Me' (idem, verso, above centre, pencil)
Collector	Collector / Franz Koenigs
Mark	E. Rodrigues (L.897), F.W. Koenigs (L.1023a) on removed backing sheet)
Provenance	Eugène Rodrigues (1853-1928, L.897), Paris; his sale, Paris (Godefroy, Huteau) 28-29.11.1928, lot 129 (attributed to Benozzo Gozzoli); Franz W. Koenigs (1881-1941, L.1023a), Haarlem, acquired in 1928 (Florentine, c. 1450); D.G. van Beuningen (1877-1955), Rotterdam, acquired with the Koenigs Collection in 1940 and donated to Stichting Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen
Exhibitions	Rotterdam 2018 (Jongerius)
Research	Show research Italian Drawings 1400-1600
Literature	Degenhart/Schmitt 1968, vol. I-2, nr. 547, vol. I-4, pl. 370c (Pesellino follower); Byam Shaw 1983, pp. 4-6 under no. 2 (copies by others after Giovanni del Ponte); Paris 1984, pp. 3-4 under no. 2; Forlani Tempesti 1991, p. 181 n. 5, under no. 64
Material	Brown ink > Ink > Artist's material > Material > Material and technique Paintbrush > Artist's material > Material > Material and technique Paper > Vegetable material > Organic material > Material > Material and technique Pen > Artist's material > Material > Material and technique
Object	Drawing > Two-dimensional object > Art object
Technique	Prepare > Prepared > Shaping techniques > General technique > Technique > Material and technique Prepare > Prepared > Shaping techniques > General technique > Technique > Material and technique Highlight > Painting technique > Technique > Material and technique Brown wash > Washing > Wash > Drawing technique > Technique > Material and technique
Geographical origin	Italy > Southern Europe > Europe
Place of manufacture	Florence > Tuscany > Italy > Southern Europe > Europe

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Entry catalogue Italian Drawings 1400-1600

Author: Gert Jan van der Sman

This drawing is one of a series of personifications of the seven virtues, which includes the allegories of Justice (I 107) and Hope (I 5). It is generally assumed that the three sheets were part of a drawing book. The artist added variation in the colours of the preparation layers and prepared the verso of the drawing in different shades. This lack of uniformity suggests that the drawings were primarily intended for use in an artist’s workshop.

The drawing of the personification of Fortitude conveys the same energy as the sheet with the personification of Charity in Paris (mentioned under I 5).^[1] This reinforces our conviction that the composition harks back to a drawing by Giovanni dal Ponte or an artist in his circle.

The female figure’s posture is finely balanced. Fortitude holds aloft a club in her right hand and clasps the edge of her shield with her left. The figure of a man lies powerless beneath her foot. In the fourteenth century the defeated man was often identified as Holofernes.^[2]In this case the vanquished figure is not specifically characterized.

Footnotes

^[1]Fondation Custodia, Frits Lugt Collection, inv. 1170.

^[2]See esp. a miniature (1353) by Niccolò di Giacomo; Ceretti 2009-10, p. 130; Grasso 2013, fig. 3.

Show research Italian Drawings 1400-1600

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