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| Italian school Bird's wing late 16th century drawing Victoria & Albert Museum |
These drawings were included in the collection of more than 1,000 art objects bequeathed to the South Kensington Museum (later to become the Victoria & Albert Museum) by the London collector Constantine Alexander Ionides under the terms of the will that came into force after his death in 1900. The more time I have spent among the pictures and objects collected by C.A. Ionides, the more his personality has aroused my interest. But the biographical trail is not promising, as the museum discloses –
In 1864 Constantine Ionides entered the London Stock Exchange and by 1866 had started his own business with a partner called Barker as stock and share brokers in the City. In 1882 Ionides retired from active business having amassed a considerable fortune. In 1884 he bought a house in Hove, East Sussex, and by the early 1890s was living there permanently with his art collection. Not much is known of Constantine Ionides as a person; his son tells us that he was an autocrat in the home, known by his children as 'O Zeus'.
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| Italian school Figure studies 17th century drawing Victoria & Albert Museum |
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| Italian school Drapery study mid 16th century drawing Victoria & Albert Museum |
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| Italian school Seated figures 16th century drawing Victoria & Albert Museum |
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| Italian school Flying putti early 17th century drawing Victoria & Albert Museum |
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| Polidoro da Caravaggio Figure studies 16th century drawing Victoria & Albert Museum |
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| Italian school Venetian villa 18th century drawing Victoria & Albert Museum |
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| Jan de Bisschop Dune landscape, Netherlands 17th century drawing Victoria & Albert Museum |
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| Claude Lorrain Landscape with bridge 1640s drawing Victoria & Albert Museum |
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| Gomar Wouters Piazza del Popolo, Rome c. 1692 drawing Victoria & Albert Museum |
The Piazza del Popolo drawing above was made as detailed preparation for the near-identical engraving Gomar Wouters published in 1692. The twin domed churches of Santa Maria dei Miracoli and Santa Maria di Montesanto opening onto the Piazza (on either side of the obelisk) are the most beautiful traffic barriers ever created by human hands. They were only about twenty years old when this picture was produced. Carlo Rainaldi's original architectural design was revised by the ubiquitous Gianlorenzo Bernini, and building was completed by Carlo Fontana.
The two Canaletto drawings below taught me something new about the various sub-genres of Venetian tourist views. The capricci we have looked at often elsewhere are mainly composed of actual buildings redisposed in fanciful settings and arrangements or as if fallen into ruin. The vedute ideale, as below, is a slightly different creature, a fanciful architectural setting and arrangement composed mainly of imaginary rather than actual structures in a state of picturesque dilapidation.
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| Canaletto Imaginary scene c. 1755-68 drawing Victoria & Albert Museum |
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| Canaletto Imaginary scene c. 1755-68 drawing Victoria & Albert Museum |
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| Italian school View of the Roman Forum from near the Colosseum 18th century drawing Victoria & Albert Museum |
In the panoramic drawing above of the Roman Forum, the dark vertical mass along the far left edge is a side view of the upper portion of the Arch of Constantine. The ruined Temple of Venus stands in front of the far more recent Church of Santa Maria Nova at right.
The Bernini fountain of Neptune in the drawing below is still in existence, we are told, at the Ducal Palace at Sassuolo, near Modena.
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| Gianlorenzo Bernini Design for a fountain with Neptune & dolphin c. 1652-53 drawing Victoria & Albert Museum |