Right Foot and a Capital below an Entablature with Eagles' Heads

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Antonio del Pollaiuolo , Italian, 1431/32-1498

Title

Date1470s

MediumBlack chalk on paper

Dimensions

39.1 x 24.7 cm

Credit LinePurchased, 1866

Object numberNGI.2233v

DescriptionAntonio del Pollaiuolo is famous as one of the most gifted painters of the early Renaissance. The eldest of six siblings, he operated a goldsmithing and painting workshop, collaborating with his younger brother Piero (1441-1496), a painter and sculptor.

This sheet is one of the earliest drawings in the gallery's collection. The sensitive profile illustrates the artist's feeling for line. The crisp, simple outline describes every feature of the face without the aid of variations of light and shade. The sitter wears a soft hat perched on his luxuriant curls, but his indistinct dress makes it difficult to assess his social status. The drawing has been cut, possibly for transfer, and may have been a study for a portrait or intended for inclusion in a large narrative painting. Pollaiuolo uses black chalk, a medium not used extensively before the 1470s. The verso of the sheet features a skilfully rendered study of a right foot, also in black chalk. This type of foreshortened bare foot is common in the paintings of the Pollaiuolo brothers. Below this is a roughly sketched design for a piece of goldsmiths work.

(National Gallery of Ireland: Essential Guide, 2008)
InscriptionInscribed on verso: Anto del pollaiuolo. Paper dated by watermark 1460/65
ProvenanceJonathan Richardson, Sr.; Revd Dr H. Wellesley; purchased, Sotheby's, London, 25 June 1866, Revd Dr H. Wellesley sale, lot 906Exhibition HistoryCentenary Exhibition, National Gallery of Ireland, Dublin, October - December 1964

The Drawings from The National Gallery of Ireland: a loan exhibition, Wildenstein, London, 31 May - 7 July 1967

Master European Drawings from the Collection of the National Gallery of Ireland, Ackland Art Museum, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill; Colorado Springs Fine Arts Centre, Colorado; Art Gallery, University of Maryland, College Park; Milwaukee Art Museum, Wisconsin; Pierpont Morgan Library, New York; Indianapolis Museum of Art, Indiana; The Minneapolis Museum of Art, Minnesota; The Santa Barbara Museum of Art, California; National Gallery of Ireland, Dublin, 1983

Domenico Ghirlandaio: Portrait of Giovanna Tornabuoni, Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza, Madrid, 22 June - 10 October 2010