Allegory with a Flying Victory and a Seated Bearded Man with a Book

Battista Franco

1510–61 · Pen and brown ink, brush and brown wash · Drawings and Prints

This drawing seems related in iconography, style, and technique to a sheet depicting an 'Allegory of Time' (private collection, New York; see 'Private Treasures: Four Centuries of European Master Drawings,' New York and Washington, D.C., 2007, pp. 36-39, no. 13), which probably dates to ca. 1560-61, and may be connected to an unexecuted project for the illustrations to a book, 'Pitture del Doni Accademico Pellegrino,' which was published in 1564 but without plates. It is therefore a late work by the artist. The composition of the Museum's sheet seems to represent the crowning of the seated bearded man holding an open book, who is therefore most likely a literary figure. This drawing was pasted down by an early collector onto a decorative mount, outlined in gold. (Carmen C. Bambach; 17 June 2015)

Artist

Battista Franco

Date

1510–61

Medium

Pen and brown ink, brush and brown wash

Department

Drawings and Prints

Credit line

Rogers Fund, 1963