NICOLO DELL'ABATE
I509/i2(?)-i57i25 Marriage of a Patrician Couple
Oil on paper, some foreground figures pricked for trans-
fer; H: 40.6 cm (16 in.); W: 47.8 cm (i8I3/i6 in.)
87.00.4 1
MARKS AND INSCRIPTIONS: None.
PROVENANCE: Sale, Christie's, London, April 8, 1986,
lot 28; art market, London.
EXHIBITIONS: None.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: None.THIS IS ONE OF FOUR KNOWN STUDIES BY NiCOLO
dell'Abate of chivalric subjects which are related in size,
shape, and style (the others are UfFizi inv. 593 E; Louvre
inv. 20.746; and Windsor Castle, Royal Library inv.
6317). A lost drawing by him, known through a copy in
Munich (Staatliche Graphische Sammlung inv. 14209),
must also have been associated with them. With the ex-
ception of the Museum's study, which was only discov-
ered recently, the others were grouped by S. Beguin.^1 She
suggested that they were made for a cycle depicting
scenes from the romantic epics Orlando furioso and Or-
lando innamorato, perhaps for Giulio Boiardo's palazzo at
Scandiano or for the Palazzo Ducale, Sassuolo, where a
series of five scenes from the life of Orlando by Nicolo
are known to have existed until well into the eighteenth
century. The Getty drawing, which first appeared at auc-
tion in 1986 at Christie's, was related by Beguin to the
Uffizi study,^2 with which it shares a similar technique,
having been made in oil on paper (the Windsor and
Louvre sheets are drawn in pen and ink). The disparity
in technique within the group might indicate that there
were two stages in the later evolution of the project, the
latter of which is represented by the highly finished oil
sketches. The style of this series, informed by the work
of Giulio Romano and Dosso Dossi, places it early i n Ni-
colo's career, circa 1535-40.- S. Beguin, Mostra di Nicolo dell'Abate, exh. cat. (Palazzo
dell'Archiginnasio, Bologna, 1969), pp. 88-91. - In conversation with G. Goldner, 1986.
7 2 ITALIAN SCHOOL • NICOLO DELL'ABATE