The Drawings of Michelangelo and His Followers in the Ashmolean Museum

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0521551331 apx 1 CUNY 160 /Joannides 052155 133 1 January 11 , 2007 13 : 45

APPENDIX 1. DRAWINGS IN WILLIAM YOUNG OTTLEY’S SALES 401

19 i,ii,iii.Unidentified.

20 i,ii,iii,iv.Unidentified.

21 i.Unidentified.

ii.Perhaps acquired by William Roscoe and in his sale

September 1816 ,aspartoflot 65 :“aGroup intended for

the Compartment of the Deluge, in the Cieling [sic] of the

Capella Sistina. Pen and bistre, heightened. Size 11 h 8 w.

From the Collection of P. H. Lanckinck,” bought Heber

15 s. Untraced.

22. 1807 - 277?
    23.Unidentified.
    24 i,ii.Unidentified.
    25.Unidentified.
    26.This may be the copy of the portrait drawing of Andrea
    Quaratesi in Rotterdam, the Boymans Museum, Inv. I 174 ,
    black chalk, H. 0 , 462 ;L. 0 ,36 2.Inthe Boymans Museum it is
    giventoJacopo Vignali, but it is probably by Carlo Dolci, like
    the Louvre copy. Although this drawing’s certain provenance
    is Sir Joshua Reynolds, Thomas Banks, and Sir Edward John
    Poynter, Ottley might well have owned it between Reynolds
    and Banks.
    27 i,ii,iii,iv.The two studies ascribed tokentmay be iden-
    tical with two drawings now in the Ashmolean Museum:
    i.184 2- 62 /R. 86 /P.II 82 /Cat. 113.
    ii.184 2- 74 /184 6- 49 /R. 66 /P.II 373 /Cat. 70.
    It is uncertain whether the Kent referred to is the architect
    and painter William Kent ( 1685 – 1748 )orthe dealer of the
    same name, documented as active in Florence and Rome in
    1758 – 1760 ,where he acquired both paintings and drawings.
    Reynolds owned yet another drawing that he believed to be
    byMichelangelo and which he annotated: “Study for restor-
    ing the torso”; this is now in the British Museum, W 104.
    587.Unidentified.

II

Capital Collection of Drawings of the Great Masters of all

the Schools. 11 April 1804 and three days following.

The section of this sale that interests us contained six-

teen lots comprising sixty-two drawings, sixty of which are

attributed to Michelangelo; some fourteen of these seem to

be identifiable with varying degrees of security (see lots 264 ,

266 , 267 , 268 , 269 , 272 , 274 ). It is uncertain whether the

drawings stated as coming from the Buonarroti Collection

(lots 265 [three drawings], 268 [two or ten? drawings], 270

[five drawings], 273 [three drawings], 274 [two drawings],

275 [two drawings]) comprise an overall total of seventeen or

twenty-five drawings since the general description of the ten

drawings in lot 268 seems so close to the description of those

in lot 267 ,which came from the Martelli Collection, that it

may be that only two drawings, the “monstrous animal,” and

the “leg and thigh” in that lot came from Casa Buonarroti. In

1814 ,Ottley explicitly included drawings originating from

different collections in the same lot, and he may already have

done so in 1804 .Hepresumably mounted or re-mounted

together compatible drawings that he had acquired from dif-

ferent sources.

Four lots ( 266 [containing six drawings], 267 [contain-

ing nine drawings], 269 [containing four drawings], 271

[containing nine drawings]) comprise a total of twenty-eight

drawings of which twenty-seven are listed as coming from

the Martelli Collection, but if eight of the ten included in

lot 268 also came from the Martelli, then the total from

that source would rise to thirty-five. One drawing (lot 276 )

came from Count “Geloso,” that is Count Genovesino, and

another one came from Sir Peter Lely (lot 272 ).

michael angelo

264.184 2- 61 /R. 85 /P.II37 1(all give the provenance solely

as Ottley)/Cat. 108.

265 i,ii,iii.It may be that this lot is identical with 1814 - 260 ,

which should be seen for further details.

266 i,ii,iii,iv,v,vi.Not securely identified. Perhaps the two

drawings in 1814 - 255 came from this group. A drawing

sold at Sotheby’s London, 11 June 1981 ,lot 239 ,red chalk,

13 0× 65 mm, as ascribed to Michelangelo, and from the

collections of William Young Ottley and Thomas Banks

may also have come from this group: It represents a young

man in left profile and bears a No. 32 whose form indi-

cates a provenance from a Florentine collection. A group of

drawings by Antonio Gabbiani ( 1652 – 1726 ), whose mem-

bers bear the same type of numbering, was owned by Wicar

and is now in Lille. This numbering, which presumably

post-dates Gabbiani’s death, was tentatively identified by

Pouncey and Gere, 1962 ,p. 129 ,no. 224 as that of Lam-

berto Gori, but it seems much more probable that it is that of

the Martelli Collection. A sheet of red chalk sketches in the

Prado, FD 2522 /Inv. D- 1736 ,bearing the “Martelli” num-

ber 79 ,containing further sketches of profiles, a left eye, and

aschematic bending skeleton, may have been part of this

Michelangelesque group. For this sheet, and the others in

the Prado that are discussed later, see Turner and Joannides,

2003.

267 i,ii,iii,iv,v,vi,vii,viii,ix.Not securely identified. A

redchalk drawing in the Prado (FD 2335 /Inv. D- 1738 )con-

taining three studies of a right leg, which appears to be a

copy of a lost sheet or sheets by Michelangelo of the early

15 2 0s, may have been part of this lot. This also once bore

a“Martelli” number of the type discussed in the commen-

taries to lots 266 and 268 ,but it has been erased so thor-

oughly that no more than a trace now remains.