ERCOLE FRIGONI, CALLED BAZZICALUVA (Pisa 1607-after 1661 Florence?)

This charming view of the Italian town of Urbino in the Marche is a characteristic work of the Tuscan draftsman Ercole Bazzicaluva. Originally from Pisa, the artist trained in Florence, in the workshop of Giulio Parigi, becoming an accomplished draftsman, printmaker, later specializing in topographical views (see B. Navarrete Prieto, ‘Views of Spanish Ports by Ercole Bazzicaluva’, Master Drawings, XLV, 2007, no. 3, pp. 345-353). The meticulous representation of Urbino, with the Ducal Palace surrounded by minuscule houses perched on the slopes of the hills, is rendered in the artist’s characteristic graphic style. Thicker pen lines and darker ink are used in the foreground to define the tree on the right, while the landscape in the background is drawn with a lighter and finer penwork to create the sense of distance. The sheet can be connected with the View of Pesaro in the Princeton University Art Museum (inv. x1993-97; see C. VAn Cleve and L.M. Giles in Italian Master Drawings from the Princeton University Art Museum, Princeton, 2014, no. 56, ill.), and with the View of Pecchio in the National Gallery of Washington (inv. 2009.70.88; see G.D. Jecmen in The McCrindle Gift: A Distinguished Collection of Drawings and Watercolors, exhib. cat., Washington, National Gallery of Art, 2012, no. 16, ill. as Remigio Cantagallina). The three drawings belong to the same series representing views of towns and villages in the Marche region.