2101
Angelika Kauffmann
(Chur 1741 - 1807 Rom)
„Cleopatra asks Meleagros to go into battle“
c. 1783
black chalk, with a fine brush in grey, light grey wash in places, remains of heightening with white chalk, on grey-beige chalk ground, on laid paper; unframed
24.6-25 x 36.1 cm
Signed, verso upper right (black ink): „Angelica Kauffman. del..“
Provenance
collection Alfred Stix (1882-1957), art historian, et al. director of the graphic collection of the Albertina, Vienna;
private property, Austria
We are grateful to Dr. Bettina Baumgärtel, head of the Angelika Kauffmann Research Project, Düsseldorf, for her assistance in cataloguing and confirmation of the drawing (after viewing the original). Certificate is enclosed.
Estimate: € 3.500 - 7.000
Realized price: € 14.080 (incl. fees and Austrian VAT)
Hammer Price: € 11.000
Auction is closed.
The work is a compositional study for a final, autonomous drawing, which was not intended for transfer into an oil painting.
“...It is a compositional study for a final, autonomous drawing that currently cannot be located. For this multi-figure scene, the artist was inspired by Homer's Illiad.
The drawing to be examined was not intended for transfer into an oil painting or as a model for a re-engraving. Minor deviations from the executed version, preserved through a pricked outline, indicate that this piece is an earlier draft.
The pricked outline by Francesco Bartolozzi (1727-1815) proves that there must have been another, more precisely executed drawing that served as a model for the engraver. As Bartolozzi's engraving was published on April 1, 1783, it is assumed that the drawing under examination was created before April 1783…” (translated from the certificate: Dr. Bettina Baumgärtel, Head of the Angelika Kauffmann Research Project_AKRP, Düsseldorf, 5 November 2024)