Plan your visit. 225 Madison Avenue at 36th Street, New York, NY 10016.

Plan your visit. 225 Madison Avenue at 36th Street, New York, NY 10016.

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

Atrributed to Alberto Alberti
1526-1599

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

11 x 7 5/8 inches (280 x 193 mm)
Pen and brown ink, over black chalk, on blue paper; verso: pen and brown ink, over black chalk.
1989.61

Gift of Janos Scholz.

Notes
Watermark: none.
Formerly attributed to Alessandro Allori, Florence 1535-1607 Florence.
Acquired as Italian, Sienese(?), 16th century.
Description

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).

Inscriptions/Markings
Inscribed at upper right, in pen and brown ink: "16".
Associated names
Anonymous, Italian School, 16th cent., Formerly attributed to.
Allori, Alessandro, 1535-1607, Formerly attributed to.
Schmid, Anton, 1904-1991, former owner.
Scholz, János, former owner.
Classification
Century Drawings
School
Department