Taddeo Zuccaro

Seated Woman Holding a Staff

c. 1565

CARLO URBINO (Crema 1525 - after 1585) Draped Woman Holding a Branch Pencil and brown ink on laid paper 13.6 x 7.7 cm Unsigned 16th century Mounted on 20th-century paper Handwrit...

Follower of Giovanni Francesco Barbieri, called Il Guercino (Cento 1591 – 1666 Bologna) Sibyl or bust-length woman, seen in profile to the left, wearing a turban Red chalk on paper,...

Artist: Unknown (Likely French, 18th Century) Title: "La Femme Muse" *No signature found Circa: 1780 Medium: Original Pastel Drawing on heavy laid paper Framing: Recently beautifully...

This magnificent drawing from the Venetian Renaissance intrigues us in many ways. It depicts an allegorical composition whose meaning partly escapes us: a veiled figure seated on a stone bench (which we have identified as Chastity), seems to be turning away from a woman's bust beside her, below which are two rabbits, a traditional allegory of fertility, but also sometimes of lust. This drawing, executed on blue paper, undoubtedly belongs to the Venetian Renaissance. The inscriptions on the back of the old mounting board indicate the various attributions considered by its last owner, the British painter and art historian Sir Lawrence Gowing. We have retained the attribution to Giuseppe Porta proposed by art historian John Arthur Gere as the most relevant. We were incredibly fortunate to find a hexagonal frame of a very similar format for this drawing, the upper corners of which were formerly cut (irregularly). This 17th-century Dutch frame comes from an aristocratic collection in Lombardy, and creates a kind of fascinating chase around this Venetian drawing...