Description:

inscribed lower left in brown ink (recto): A. Carracci; numbered lower right in brown ink: 8; diamond stamp in purple ink (verso): Ufficio Esportazione Artistica Roma
pen and brown ink
210 x 178 mm

Provenance:

Sotheby’s, London: 2 July 1984, Lot 62
with Baskett & Day Ltd, London
where acquired by the present owner in 1984

Note:

This drawing by Agostino Carracci is a rare example of a pure landscape, undisturbed by figures and with no narrative pretext. Save for the diminutive settlement in the distance, which is dwarfed on all sides by the features of the landscape, Agostino’s vision of nature is unbroken by human activity. To the right of the sheet on a riverbank is a grove of trees whose trunks are characterized by careful hatching and cross-hatching, in contrast with the more elaborately described foliage, which spills out from the centre in spiralling waves, with more sparsely inked areas used to denote the effects of sunlight. To the left, a sketchily indicated river recedes into the distance, cutting between banks bordered with trees and shrubs, towards the hillside settlement with large mountains behind. The proximity of the trees to the viewing plane and the density of the penwork of the foliage contrasts with the more sketchily drawn river and mountain range behind, heightening the scene’s sense of scale and its spatial recession.

SOLD