c.1600 SOUTH GERMAN SCHOOL
Design for a Frontispiece, with Allegories of Justice and Strength
Pen and brown ink and brown wash.
The outlines partly indented with a stylus for transfer.
Laid down.
240 x 166 mm. (9 1/2 x 6 1/2 in.)
The outlines partly indented with a stylus for transfer.
Laid down.
240 x 166 mm. (9 1/2 x 6 1/2 in.)
The present sheet would appear to be the work of a German artist who may have travelled and worked in Italy. The Florentine giglio – the lily of the coat of arms of the city of Florence – at the bottom of the composition suggests a Tuscan connection, while an ecclesiastical element is indicated by the bishop’s mitre above the lily. The fact that the outlines are partly indented with a stylus further suggests that this drawing may have been a design for a print.
The scholar Susan Tipton has recently suggested a connection with the work of the Augsburg draughtsman and etcher Hans Friedrich Schrorer (c.1585-c.1653/54), who was active in the first half of the 17th century. Born into a family of painters, Schrorer (sometimes Schorer) was trained by his father and was established as an independent artist by 1616. He is recorded in Augsburg until 1653, although the precise date of his death is unknown. Schrorer is only known as a draughtsman, and no paintings by his hand have survived. His first datable drawings were done around 1607-1608 and his last known dated sheet was executed in 1654. As well as landscapes, genre and mythological subjects and religious scenes, Schrorer produced a number of drawings of designs intended to be produced by craftsmen or goldsmiths, as well as finished drawings for collectors. He also made copy drawings of the work of other painters and sculptors who were active in Augsburg.
Drawings by Hans Schrorer are in the collections of the Kunstsammlungen und Museen Augsburg, the Kunsthalle in Bremen, the Kunstsammlungen der Veste Coburg in Coburg, the Hessisches Landesmuseum in Darmstadt, the British Museum in London, the Staatliche Graphische Sammlung in Munich, the National Gallery in Prague, the Nationalmuseum in Stockholm and the Albertina in Vienna. A stylistically comparable design for a saltcellar by Schrorer is in the Art Institute of Chicago.
This drawing was at one time in the collection of the collector and patron Sir John Witt (1907-1982), when it was thought to be by Perino del Vaga (1501-1547).
The scholar Susan Tipton has recently suggested a connection with the work of the Augsburg draughtsman and etcher Hans Friedrich Schrorer (c.1585-c.1653/54), who was active in the first half of the 17th century. Born into a family of painters, Schrorer (sometimes Schorer) was trained by his father and was established as an independent artist by 1616. He is recorded in Augsburg until 1653, although the precise date of his death is unknown. Schrorer is only known as a draughtsman, and no paintings by his hand have survived. His first datable drawings were done around 1607-1608 and his last known dated sheet was executed in 1654. As well as landscapes, genre and mythological subjects and religious scenes, Schrorer produced a number of drawings of designs intended to be produced by craftsmen or goldsmiths, as well as finished drawings for collectors. He also made copy drawings of the work of other painters and sculptors who were active in Augsburg.
Drawings by Hans Schrorer are in the collections of the Kunstsammlungen und Museen Augsburg, the Kunsthalle in Bremen, the Kunstsammlungen der Veste Coburg in Coburg, the Hessisches Landesmuseum in Darmstadt, the British Museum in London, the Staatliche Graphische Sammlung in Munich, the National Gallery in Prague, the Nationalmuseum in Stockholm and the Albertina in Vienna. A stylistically comparable design for a saltcellar by Schrorer is in the Art Institute of Chicago.
This drawing was at one time in the collection of the collector and patron Sir John Witt (1907-1982), when it was thought to be by Perino del Vaga (1501-1547).
Provenance
Sir John Clermont Witt, London.