A Frieze with Pairs of Hippocampi

This drawing entered the Morgan Library & Museum as by an anonymous Italian artist of the sixteenth century on the basis of a stylistic comparison with a drawing identified by Philip Pouncey (1910-1990) as by Pollini (called Cesare dal Francia). Rhoda Eitel-Porter also suggested the artist might be Cesare Pollini. The drawing identified by Philip Pouncey is known from a photograph in the British Museum, and it was previously owned by "Higgins, Paris" under the name Carletto Veronese. Both drawings show a similar use of rose-colored wash, with distinct heightening in white gouache and a similar handling of the pen. The Morgan Library & Museum sheet can also be compared to a second sheet, in the Musée du Louvre, entitled "A Group of Horsemen" (inv. 2731), which also prominently features prancing horses in profile. While the Louvre sheet employs a gray rather than rose wash, the contours of the horses are similar--particularly in the animals' twisting necks.