Charles Joseph Natoire
1700-1777
Pope Clement XI Examining the Library of Cassiano dal Pozzo
1707
Full sheet: 5 1/8 x 8 3/4 inches (129 x 221 mm); design area: 3 9/16 x 7 7/16 inches (91 x 188 mm)
Pen and black ink and wash, over black chalk, on paper; ruled borders in pen and black ink.
1986.5
Gift of Roberto Ferretti di Castelferretto on the occasion of the opening of the exhibition at The Pierpont Morgan Library of a selection of his Italian drawings.
Notes
This is the only known preparatory study for the three illustrations Natoire designed for the "De Vita et Rebus Gestis Clementis Undecimi Pontifici Maximi", a biography of Pope Clement XI (1649-1721) published by Pietro Polidori in 1727 (Urbino, Antonium Fantauzzi). The project engaged both French and Italian artists including Pier Leone Ghezzi, Giovanni Battista Brughi, and Michel Francois Dandre-Bardon. Pietro Masini engraved Natoire's scene for the frontispiece to the third book. The seated pope eagerly browses tomes from the celebrated library of Cassiano dal Pozzo (1588-1657), secretary to Cardinal Francesco Barberini and nephew of Pope Urban VIII. The young Dal Pozzo is shown here kneeling next to a crate and proffering a book to the pope, while in the related illustration he is shown as an older, bearded figure.
Inscriptions/Markings
Signed in pen and black ink, at lower left, "C. NATOIRE. F."; inscribed on verso, in graphite, at upper right, "100".
Watermark: Fleur-de-lis in circle surmounted by letter "V".
Watermark: Fleur-de-lis in circle surmounted by letter "V".
Associated names
Ferretti, Roberto, former owner.
Bibliography
Ryskamp, Charles, ed. Twenty-First Report to the Fellows of the Pierpont Morgan Library, 1984-1986. New York : Pierpont Morgan Library, 1989, p. 364.
Caviglia-Brunel, Susanna, Charles-Joseph Natoire, 1700-1777, Paris, 2012, no. D.78.
Caviglia-Brunel, Susanna, Charles-Joseph Natoire, 1700-1777, Paris, 2012, no. D.78.
Artist
Classification
Century Drawings
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