(Rome 1654–1714)
A design for a ceiling decoration with putti on the cornices and a coat of arms, pen and brown ink, on black chalk auf laid paper, 18 x 26,5 cm, mounted, unframed, (Sch)

Provenance:
Collection Giancarlo Sestieri, Rome.

Literature:
D. Graf, Giusppe Passeri. Zeichnungen und Entwürfe für die Ausmalung römischer Paläste und Villen, in: Römisches Jahrbuch der Bibliotheca Hertziana, 30, 1995, pp. 315–370, p. 349, Fig. 74.

The present drawing is one of numerous designs for ceiling decorations, which Giuseppe Passeri executed for villas and palaces in Rome and its surroundings. Only few of the decorations are preserved today, including the ones in the Barberini palace in Rome, several figures in the Villa Falconieri in Frascati, in the town palace of the Patrizi and in the gallery of their palace in Castelgiuliano (comp.: D. Graf, Die Handzeichnungen des Giuseppe Passeri, Düsseldorf 1995, pp. 169-173). Numerous designs for decorations which are not existing anymore or cannot be ascribed to certain buildings have been preserved. A number of them are kept in the Kunstbibliothek in Berlin and in the National Museum in Stockholm; some studies came to the Hessische Landesmuseum in Darmstadt, the Biblioteca Ambrosiana in Milan and the Albertina in Vienna (Graf 1995, p. 170). Among the studies mentioned by Graf in the catalogue are several sheets which are comparable with the present drawing in regard of the technical execution (pen and brown ink, over black or red chalk) as well as in regard of their comparable motifs. (comp.: Graf 1995, Cat. 665–673).