FRANCESCO CACCIANIGA (MILAN 1700-1781 ROME)
Lot 41 Property of an American Collector

FRANCESCO CACCIANIGA (MILAN 1700-1781 ROME)

The Fall of Phaeton

Closed1 February 2024

Price Realised

USD 20,160

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FRANCESCO CACCIANIGA (MILAN 1700-1781 ROME)
The Fall of Phaeton
with inscription ‘Caccianiga eseguito in un soffitto di villa Pinciana’ (lower center)
black chalk, pen and brown ink, brown wash, heightened with white, squared for transfer
16 7⁄8 x 13 ¼ in. (42.5 x 33.3 cm)

Unidentified collector’s mark (L. 2508).
Willem Anne Lestevenon (1750-1830), Paris and Haarlem.
Jean-Baptiste-Florentin-Gabriel de Meryan, Marquis de Lagoy (1764-1829), Aix en Provence (L. 1710); Paris, 14-19 April 1834, lot 113 (as Paolo Caccianiga).
Anonymous sale; Sotheby’s, London, 5 July 1993, lot 304.
with Nissman, Abromson, Brookline.

Specialist note

This large sheet is a highly finished study for a ceiling decoration in the Villa Borghese in Rome (fig. 1). Beginning in 1775 Prince Marcantonio Borghese IV, together with the architect Antonio Asprucci, embarked on the renovation of the villa and its surroundings, a project that lasted about twenty years. Francesco Caccianiga was involved in the execution of the new wall decoration. Most of the plans, designs and documents relative to the project are today at the Getty Research Institute in Los Angeles (see Paul, op. cit.). The drawing is annotated at the foot by the architect Antonio Asprucci.