Live Auction 17994Old Master & British Drawings Including Works from the Collection of Jean Bonna
Pietro Antonio Novelli (Venice 1729-1804)
Lot 69 From the Collection of Jean Bonna

Pietro Antonio Novelli (Venice 1729-1804)

A chained slave, seated on armory

Closed28 January 2020

Price Realised

USD 12,500

Considering selling a similar item?

Discover its value with a complimentary estimate from our specialists.

More Information

How to sell

Pietro Antonio Novelli (Venice 1729-1804)
A chained slave, seated on armory
with inscription 'Carravaggio' (lower right)
gray and dark gray wash, black ink
17 ¾ x 13 3/8 in. (45 x 33.8 cm)

Possibly B. Charbonnier;
Sir Archibald Alison (1792-1867), Glasgow.
with Stanza del Borgo, Milan (Disegni e stampe dal XVI al XIX secolo, 1990); Sotheby's, New York, 9 January 1996, lot 52.

Specialist note

This large and exuberantly drawn academy constitutes a peak in Novelli’s fluid and sensual draftsmanship. The nude is conveyed in broad strokes of gray washes, modeled in a darker ink with a finer brush. While a similar seated slave is in the Lehman Collection at the Metropolitan Museum of Art (inv. 1975.1.389), this drawing may belong to a series which included a drunken Bacchus with a putto recently on the market (Bassenge, 1 December 2017, lot 6517).