DAY & FABER master drawings

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DAY & FABER master drawings

    il Guercino (Cento 1591 - 1666 Bologna)

    astrologer with an astrolabe and compass

    Description:

    pen and brown ink, traces of red chalk 163 x 269 mm

    Provenance:

    Giovanni Piancastelli, Rome
    Edward and Mary Brandegee, Boston, c. 1904 (Lugt, 1860c verso)
    thence by descent to a private collection, U.S.A.

    Note:

    Nicholas Turner has confirmed the attribution and dates the drawing to the mid 1630’s. He makes a comparison with two drawings in the Princeton Museum of Art. "Bearded old man (Astrologer), shown half-length, with an astrolabe" is closely related to this sheet and belongs to the same composition, treated more freely in wash. The model would appear to be the same. "Astrologer measuring an astrological globe with a compass" dates from a decade later.

    astrologer with an astrolabe and compass