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Drawing 1 (top left): Foliate scrolls and figures
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Reference number
SM volume 115/162a
Purpose
Drawing 1 (top left): Foliate scrolls and figures
Aspect
Part of an ornamental composition
Scale
Not known
Signed and dated
- c.1515
Datable to c.1515
Medium and dimensions
Pen and brown ink over brown chalk
Hand
Bernardo della Volpaia
Notes
This drawing (from c.1515) in the grotesque style could be for the spandrel of an arch, as the lower left-hand edge is in the form of an arc. Alternatively, given the scale of the ornamentation in relation to the arc, it is more likely that the arc was to accommodate another ornamental feature. On the left is a terminal figure holding a flaming bowl, which is connected to a double-scrolled foliate composition with a protome that has animal legs and a horned head sprouting a further scroll and is being fended off by a naked male holding a flaming torch. Beyond, to the right, is a vertical element, consisting of two pedestals supporting what very much resembles an hourglass, from which scrolls extend to the left, beneath the naked male, and the right. The design, although inspired by ancient decorative paintings, is probably a modern invention, not least because hourglasses appear not to have existed in antiquity.
Literature
Ashby 1904, p. 74
Ashby 1913, p. 210
Census, ID 47226
Ashby 1913, p. 210
Census, ID 47226
Level
Drawing
Digitisation of the Codex Coner has been made possible through the generosity of the Census of Antique Works of Art and Architecture Known in the Renaissance, Berlin.
If you have any further information about this object, please contact us: drawings@soane.org.uk