• Undated, probably 1760 - 1763

Pencil, watercolour, bodycolour 1272 x 365, three joined sheets

Giuseppe Manocchi (attributed to)

This drawing, together with those in Adam vol.26/186, 191-201 is part of a group attributed to Giuseppe Manocchi (c.1731-82), showing decoration of the Vatican logge. This drawing is a study of the decoration of pilaster 12, although the subjects of the four relief panels do not correpond to Ottaviani's engraving (see below). According to Dacros, the subject matter should be: swan, Apollo, a sacrificial scene, a dancer - only Apollo and the dancer are shown in this drawing (see N. Dacros, Le Logge di Raffaello, Rome, 1986, p.277). There is an unnumbered version of this pilaster in Sir John Soane's Museum, Soane volume 130, which is close to the print but, like this drawing, shows abbreviated base figures. The side border here shows only three of the bottom border circles but is otherwise accurate.
The decoration of the Vatican logge appeared as engravings between 1772 - 1777 in three parts: Logge di Rafaele nel Vaticano (1772), Seconda Parte delle Logge di Rafaele nel Vaticano (1776) and Terza ed Ultima Parte delle Logge di Rafaele nel Vaticano (1777). Work on the project of recording was begun in 1760 and was more or less completed by 1768. The principal artists involved were the painter Gaetano Savorelli (d.1791) and the architect Pietro Camporesi (1726-81), and the engraver was Giovanni Ottaviani (1735-1808). The third volume was engraved by Giovanni Volpato (1733-1803), after drawings by Ludovico Tesio (1731-82).

Drawing

Digitisation of the Drawings Collection has been made possible through the generosity of the Leon Levy Foundation

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