Tuesday, August 29, 2017

Cavendish Album - 17th-century Drawings, part 2

Claude Lorrain
View on a quay
ca. 1646
wash drawing from Cavendish Album
British Museum
`
Anonymous French artist
Piazza Navona, Rome
ca. 1647-52
drawing on blue paper from the Cavendish Album
British Museum

attributed to Bartolomeo Biscaino
Adoration of the Shepherds
ca. 1647-57
drawing from the Cavendish Album
British Museum

Pietro Santi Bartoli
Figure of Fame
ca. 1650-1700
drawing from the Cavendish Album
British Museum

from THE FACE OF PIRANDELLO

"One day the man enters a bookshop and buys yet another volume. When he arrives home, he does not open it.  He places it on the table next to the others.  One photograph after another.  Front and back covers of books bought at random.  Portraits of Pirandello.  It should be said that in none of the photographs does the playwright smile.  No smiles to mitigate the discomfort of the moment.  Better to stare and then leave.  Even though he is from Rome and is 69 years old."

"On the left-hand side of the table, the black-and-white face on the back cover of Sei personaggi . . . , published  by Methuen.  The face, in black-and-white, of a man, first of all elegant.  The mustache and the goatee, both white.  The goatee cut slightly to a point, like a walking stick. It begins just below the lower lip.  Well trimmed.  It is possible to see his care before the mirror, on certain mornings.  The black-and-white face staring fixedly at the camera.  A white hat on his head.  A hat with a wide sash of black silk.  Below: the eyes.  Yes.  The eyes are always the problem.  Wide, rounded below the impeccable round, dark rings.  Like the eyes that so attracted Pontormo.  Lengthened downwards.  In order to be able to trace, from the end of the ring to below the eyebrow, an ellipse in which to situate the forever disconcerted iris. Attentive.  Intact, in its fascination."

"Not Giacometti.  Giacometti would have traced the line on the horizontal in  order to mark first the cut of the eyelid.  The lower eyelid.  Twice, with two strokes.  The lower one pressed harder, blacker.  And next a vertical cut to mark the space between the eyebrows.  Not Pontormo.  Pontormo would have drawn Pirandello's eyes in one stroke, hastily.  An ellipse embracing the whole contour of the eyelids.  The iris floating halfway between and upwards." 

 by artist Juan Muñoz (1953-2001), originally published as a Spanish/English bilingual text in 1994 in Barcelona, English text reprinted in Juan Muñoz, catalog of the 2001 retrospective exhibition at the Hirshhorn Museum and the Art Institute of Chicago

attributed to Ciro Ferri after Pietro da Cortona
Landscape
ca. 1650
drawing from the Cavendish Album
British Museum

attributed to Ciro Ferri
 Woman painting or drawing a portrait of the Goddess Minerva,
attendants above supporting escutcheon 
before 1689
drawing from the Cavendish Album
British Museum

follower of Pietro da Cortona
Study of a woman holding a staff with a perching bird
ca. 1660
drawing from the Cavendish Album
British Museum

attributed to Guercino
Bearded man in morian helmet with plume
before 1666
drawing from the Cavendish Album
British Museum

attributed to Guercino
Man in turban
before 1666
drawing from the Cavendish Album
British Museum

attributed to Guercino
Young woman in profile
before 1666
drawing from the Cavendish Album
British Museum

Salvator Rosa
Study of bearded man 
before 1673
drawing from the Cavendish Album
British Museum

attributed to Johann Paul Schor
Putti supporting helmet above Escutcheon
before 1674
drawing from the Cavendish Album
British Museum

Anthonie van Borssom
Two artists on a jetty sketching
before 1677
wash drawing from the Cavendish Album
British Museum

Giovanni Francesco Grimaldi
Church of Santa Maria della Febbre, converted from an ancient Roman Tomb
(demolished 1776-84 to allow yet further expansion of St. Peter's Basilica)

before 1680
drawing on blue paper from the Cavendish Album
 British Museum

Gianlorenzo Bernini
Design of Catafalque for funeral of Muzio Mattei at Santa Maria Maggiore, Rome
1668
drawing from Cavendish Album
British Museum

follower of Gianlorenzo Bernini
Fountain design with Putto riding Seahorse
before 1680
drawing (in poor condition) from the Cavendish Album
British Museum