Autumn. Preparatory study for ceiling in the Louvre, 1656

Artist/Maker

Material / Technique

Dimensionsh x w: Mått 15 x 22 cm

Inventory numberNMH 2245/1863

AcqusitionTransferred 1866 from Kongl. Museum (Carl Gustaf Tessin)

Other titlesTitel (sv): Höst. Förberedande studie till tak i Louvren, 1656 Titel (en): Autumn. Preparatory study for ceiling in the Louvre, 1656 Titel i inventariet (sv): Årstiderna

DescriptionDescription: Autumn. Preparatory study for ceiling in the Louvre, 1656. Two fragments completed with vegetation and blue sky. Laid down. Numbered at lower right (on the mount) in pen and brown ink: 144 (cancelled) and 2040. (Sparre) When the ground floor of La Petite Galerie in the Louvre was placed at the disposal of Anne of Austria by her son, Louis XIV, in 1651, the necessary rebuilding was entrusted to Antoine Ratabon, who in 1654 tried to interest Pietro da Cortona in the decorative work. When Cortona declined, the offer went, on the advice of Cardinal Mazarin, to Romanelli, which began with the Grand Cabinet in 1655. Romanelli worked here from Cortona's ceiling decorations in the Barberini and Pitti palaces, while the Salle des Saisons harks back to the Camera di Diana in Bassano di Sustris. In La Grande Antichambre, decorated in 1656, the theme of the ceiling is Diana and Apollo, who figure in the central tondo as well as in four rectangular side-pieces. Kerber considers that our drawings are for the corner-pieces in this room, while Rosenberg sees them instead as sketches for the ceiling in the Salle des Saisons. [Bjurström, It. Drawings, cat. no. 814]

Collection

Geographical origin

MaterialWatercolour, Black chalk (Crayon), Paper

TechniqueDrawing