A Seated Slave

Pietro Antonio Novelli

mid-18th–early 19th century · Pen and black ink, gray wash, over black chalk · Robert Lehman Collection

A contemporary of Domenico Tiepolo, Novelli was a decorative painter and prolific draftsman. This drawing is a copy after one of the four bronze sculptures of slaves on the base of the monument to the Grand Duke Ferdinand I de’ Medici of Tuscany (Piazza Giuseppe Micheli, Livorno, Italy). These highly dynamic figures of bronze enchained captives, positioned at the four corners of the pedestal in crouching postures, were designed by the sculptor Pietro Tacca and installed in 1626. The marble statue of Ferdinand I surmounting the pedestal was sculpted by Giovanni Bandini, whose work is exhibited nearby.

Artist

Pietro Antonio Novelli

Date

mid-18th–early 19th century

Medium

Pen and black ink, gray wash, over black chalk

Department

Robert Lehman Collection

Credit line

Robert Lehman Collection, 1975