- Museum number
- 1946,0713.58
- Description
-
Horatius Cocles defending the bridge, composition study for the Palazzo Doria, Genoa; a soldier at centre battling against the enemy, the bridge being demolished behind him at left
Pen and brown ink, squared for transfer in black chalk
Verso: Studies of figures
Pen and brown ink
- Production date
- 1530 (circa)
- Dimensions
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Height: 198 millimetres
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Width: 216 millimetres (octagonal)
- Curator's comments
- Watermark: an encircled device.
The Ashmolean study for 'Marcus Curtius', like the present one related to one of the octagonal roundels in the Loggia degli Eroi in the Palazzo Doria, Genoa, is illustrated in colour in the 2001 Mantua catalogue (no. 109). Also included in the same exhibition is a study for Marcus Curtius's horse in the Tobey collection, New York (110) and a preliminary idea for another of the paintings, the 'Camillus and Brennus', in the Horvitz collection, Boston (no. 111; lot 12 in 'The Jeffrey E. Horvitz Collection of Italian Drawings', Sotheby's, New York, 23 January 2008). The ceiling compartment with 'Horatio Coccles defending the bridge' is illustrated in Parma Armani fig. 103.
Label text, 'Genoa, Superb Line' (2023-4):
Like Perino's nearby tapestry design, this drawing pertains to the decoration of Andrea Doria's villa. It is preparatory for a fresco on the ceiling of the Loggia degli Eroi (loggia of the heroes). In Renaissance Italy classical myth and history were often used to glorify the patron: here Doria chose the Roman Horatius Cocles, who kept the Etruscan invaders at bay to allow the bridge over the Tiber to be destroyed behind him. The drawing is typical of Perino's free and energetic use of pen, which was widely imitated by Genoese artists.
Lit.: A.E. Popham, 'Catalogue of Drawings in the Collection formed by Sir Thomas Phillipps, Bart., F.R.S., now in the possession of his Grandson, T. Fitzroy Phillipps Fenwick of Thirlestaine House, Cheltenham', I, London, 1935, p. 106, no. 7 (as Attributed to Perino del Vaga); P. Pouncey and J.A. Gere, 'Italian drawings in the BM, Raphael and his circle', London, 1962, I, no. 164, II, pl.131; J.A. Gere and P. Pouncey, 'Italian drawings in the BM, Artists working in Rome', London, 1983, no. 368; E. Parma Armani, 'Perin del Vaga: l'anello mancante', Genoa, 1986, under no. A.IX.5, p. 271; E. Parma, in exhib. cat. (E. Parma ed.), Mantua, Palazzo Te, 'Perino del Vaga: tra Raffaello e Michelangelo', 2001, under no. 109
Pouncey & Gere 1962 (on the recto only, the verso then not having been revealed):
The attribution to Perino goes back at least to the time of Lawrence. 1946,0713.58 is a study for the octagonal fresco in the centre of one of the sections of the vault of the Loggia degli Eroi in the Palazzo Doria, Genoa, decorated by Perino c. 1530 (repr. 'Dedalo', x (1929/30), p. 251; Davidson, op. cit., fig. 12). The correspondence between drawing and fresco would be exact but for the omission in the latter of the figure under the bridge. A similar study for one of the other octagons, that representing Marcus Curtius, is in the Ashmolean (Parker 730).
Literature: Lawrence Gallery, Fifth Exhibition, no. 91; Popham, Fenwick, p. 106, no. 7; B. Davidson, Art Bulletin, xli (1959), p. 321.
Gere & Pouncey 1983
These sketches are on the verso of the study for the octagonal painting of 'Horatius Cocles' on the vault of the Loggia degli Eroi in the Palazzo Doria in Genoa, published in an earlier volume of the catalogue (BM 'Raphael', no. 164). They were revealed only recently, when the drawing was removed from its eighteenth-century mount. Perino was working in the Palazzo Doria c. 1530.
Among them can be detected a r. hand and forearm, a l. hand (on a larger scale), and various standing and seated figures. In view of the purpose of the drawing on the recto, it seems more than likely that these sketches were made in connection with the decoration of the same palace. Some of the seated figures may represent early ideas for one or other of the colossal seated Heroes on the wall of the Loggia.
- Location
- On display (G90)
- Exhibition history
-
1962/3 Nov-Sep, BM, 'Raphael and his Circle', (P+G)
1977 May-Jun, Hermitage, 'Italian Renaissance', no. 40
1977 Jul-Aug, Pushkin, Moscow, 'Italian Renaissance', no. 40
1980, Adelaide and Melbourne, no. 40
1990/1 Oct-Jan, London, Dulwich Picture Gallery, 'Le Brun', no. 3
2001 Mar-Jul, Genoa, Palazzo Ducale, 'Voyage en Italie'
2022 2 Feb - 15 May London, BM, G90a, 'Raphael and his Circle'
2023-4, 5 Oct- 1 April, BM, G90, 'Superb Line, prints and drawings from Genoa 1500-1800 ' (no cat.)
- Previous owner
-
Previous owner/ex-collection: Richard Houlditch (L.2214; identified as 'R. Hudson' in the Lawrence Gallery catalogue. Perhaps lot 40 in Houlditch's sale, London, Langford, 1760, 14 Feb., "Two by Perino del Vaga, Schiavone", bt Barnard, £1-19-0))
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Previous owner/ex-collection: John Barnard (L.1420; "N°:305. 8 1/2 by 8))
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Previous owner/ex-collection: John Thane (L.1544; George Jones, 26.iii.1819/part of lot 242 as Perino del Vaga 'Battle on a Bridge, pen and ink, and 1 other humorous, pen, ink and wash, from Richardson's collection', 2 in the lot, bt ? £1-0-0)
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Previous owner/ex-collection: Sir Thomas Lawrence (L.2445)
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Previous owner/ex-collection: Samuel Woodburn (Christie's, 8.vi.1860/987 as Perino 'Horatio Cocles defending the bridge at Rome - octagon - free pen. From the Collections of Lord Arundel, Hudson, and Barnard' bt Phillipps £1-0-0)
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Previous owner/ex-collection: Sir Thomas Phillipps
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Previous owner/ex-collection: Thomas Fitzroy Fenwick
- Acquisition date
- 1946
- Acquisition notes
- Unidentified collector's mark on recto, in lower left corner: small six-pointed star (similar to L.2898)
- Department
- Prints and Drawings
- Registration number
- 1946,0713.58