A military convoy with vexillarii (standard-bearers) dressed in scaled breastplates, some carrying war trophies

Details

ATTRIBUTED TO GIULIO PIPPI, IL ROMANO (ROME 1499-1546 MANTUA)
A military convoy with vexillarii (standard-bearers) dressed in scaled breastplates, some carrying war trophies
with ink inscription ‘O. [for ‘original’] Jules Rom.’ (recto); ‘uno scudo de oro/ Julio Romano’ and an old inscription (verso)
pen and brown ink, brown wash, brown ink framing lines
25.6 x 40.6 x cm (10 x 16 in.)

Provenance

Pierre Crozat (1665-1740), Paris (L. 3612; his numbering ‘203’ lower right); Hôtel Drouot, Paris, 10 April 1741, possibly part of 151, 152 or 153 (as Jules Romain).

Special Notice

This lot has been imported from outside of the UK for sale and placed under the Temporary Admission regime. Import VAT is payable at 5% on the hammer price. VAT at 20% will be added to the buyer’s premium but will not be shown separately on our invoice.

Conditions of sale

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Lot Essay

The drawing is connected to the upper frieze on the far right of the west wall of the Sala degli Stucchi executed to Giulio Romano’s designs in the Palazzo Te in Mantua, circa 1530 (Fig.1; A. Belluzzi, ‘Camera degli Stucchi’, in Palazzo Te, Modena, 1998, no. 785, ill.). The decoration of this room is in stucco and the double frieze shows the Roman army marching out from the upper band of the north wall. Vasari attributed the friezes to Francesco Primaticcio and Giovanni Battista Scultori, but this is uncertain owing to a lack of evidence (for a discussion on the decoration see A. Belluzzi, op. cit., nos. 784-792).
Another drawing of the same subject is in the Musée du Louvre, Paris (inv. 3553; L. Angelucci, R. Serra, Giulio Romano, exhib. cat., Musée du Louvre, Paris, 2013, no. 23, ill.), one of a group of drawings relating to the stucco friezes.

Fig. 1. Giulio Romano, Sala degli Stucchi, west wall, Palazzo Te, Mantua.

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