GIOVANNI BATTISTA PIAZZETTA
1683-1754
33 A Boy Holding a Pear
(Giacomo Piazzetta?)
Black and white chalk on blue-gray paper, two joined
sheets; H: 39.2 cm (i5^7 /i 6 in.); W: 30.9 cm (i2^3 /i6 in.)
86.GB.67 7 (SEE PLATE 5)
MARKS AND INSCRIPTIONS: None.
PROVENANCE: H. A. Vivian Smith, London (sale, Chris-
tie's, London, May 20, 1955, lot 45); Welker; sale, Chris-
tie's, London, December 12, 1985, lot 269; art market,
London.
EXHIBITIONS: None.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: None.THIS IS ONE OF THE MANY TESTE DI CARATTERE THAT
represent the most distinctive and successful aspect of Pi-
azzetta's drawn oeuvre. Showing a boy with a pear, it is
similar in both theme and gesture of the right hand to a
sheet in the Pierpont Morgan Library, New York (inv.
iv. 89), showing a woman with a pear, and to a painting
in the Wadsworth Atheneum, Hartford, with the same
boy as in the Museum's drawing, also with a pear but de-
picted in profile. The rich, elaborate sleeve finds analogy
in a drawing of a young boy feeding a dog in the Art In-
stitute of Chicago (inv. 1971.326). The boy has been
identified by G. Knox as Piazzetta's son Giacomo at the
age of thirteen.^1 If this is the case—as appears likely—it
follows that the Museum's drawing also portrays him,
perhaps at a slightly earlier age, thus suggesting a date of
circa 1737.
The Museum's study has remnants of underdraw-
ing and several pentimenti, notably those visible along the
left shoulder, in the left hand, and—almost illegibly—
above and behind the head. They indicate that the sheet
preceded the version in the Kupferstichkabinett, Berlin
(inv. xdz 5874), which is more precise and finished in
handling.i. G. Knox, Piazzetta, exh. cat. (National Gallery of Art,
Washington, D.C., 1983), p. 100, no. 33.9 O ITALIAN SCHOOL • PIAZZETTA