Acanthus Leaves and Ornate Urn. Verso: Designs for an Frieze and a Study of a Base and Pilaster

Both this and inv. 1989.60 appear to be drawings by the artist and wood-carver Alberto Alberti, whose work, apart from four codices of drawings after Roman antiquities, is barely known. All five studies on this drawing are probably after the antique; many similar studies of acanthus from antique monuments in Rome are found in the codices of the Istituto Nazionale della Grafica, Rome (for instance Forni 1991, Tav. CVIII (F.N. 8026v or Cod.B fol.9v)). The studies on the verso may be of a cornice with the top part of a frieze and perhaps a base with the lower part of a pillar (for studies of entablatures see Forni 1991, Tav. CXIX (Cod. B fol.22).