Saturn Devouring his Child thumbnail 1
Saturn Devouring his Child thumbnail 2
Image of Gallery in South Kensington
Request to view at the Prints & Drawings Study Room, level H , Case PD, Shelf 260, Box A

Saturn Devouring his Child

Drawing
mid 16th century (drawn)
Artist/Maker
Unknown (artist)
Beccafumi, Domenico (formerly attributed to)
Place of origin
Italy (made)

Pen and ink and wash over red chalk drawing depicting the mythological subject of Saturn devouring his child.


Object details

Category
Drawings
Object type
Drawing
TitleSaturn Devouring his Child (published title)
Materials and techniques
pen and ink and wash over red chalk on paper
Pen and Ink
Red Chalk
Wash
Paper (Fiber Product)
Drawing
Brief description
Drawing, 'Saturn Devouring his Child', artist unknown, Italian School, pen and ink and wash over red chalk, mid 16th century
Physical description
Pen and ink and wash over red chalk drawing depicting the mythological subject of Saturn devouring his child.
Style
Italian School
Production typeUnique
Marks and inscriptions
Domenico Beccafumi (Inscribed in ink in a later hand)
Object history
Sir Joshua Reynolds (Lugt 2364); S. Woodburn (sale, Christie's 4-14 June 1860; bought for the museum)
Historical context
The figure of Saturn is reminiscent of the Belvedere Torso.
Subjects depicted
Child
Scythe
Saturn
Bibliographic references
  • Ward-Jackson, Peter, Italian Drawings, Volume One: 14th-16th Century, London, 1979, cat. 522, p.231, illus. The following is the full text of the entry: School unknown: mid 16th century 522 Saturn devouring his child Inscribed in ink in a later hand 'Domenico Beccafumi' Pen and ink and wash over red chalk 10 7/8 x 7 1/8 (276 x 180) PROVENANCE Sir Joshua Reynolds (Lugt 2364); S. Woodburn (sale, Christie's 4-14 June 1860; bought for the museum) LITERATURE Maria Gibellino-Krasceninnicowa, Il Beccafumi, Siena, 1933, pl. 41. The attribution to Beccafumi was maintained in the book quoted and in the Print room till lately, but is not justified stylistically. The eccentric calligraphic mannerisms recall certain drawings that are usually ascribed to Battista Franco: there is one double-sided at Oxford (Parker, Ashmolean, no. 237), another in the Albertina (Albertina catalogue, I, no. 144), and two at Düsseldorf (Budde, nos. 577 and 578). But the attribution to Franco is uncertain in all these cases.
  • Luca Cambiaso. Un maestro del Cinquecento europeo, exh. cat. Palazzo Ducale Genova, ed. by Piero Boccardo, Franco Boggero, Clario Di Fabio, Lauro Magnani, and Jonathan Bober, Milan, 2007, no. 11, p. 199
  • Rotondi, P., 'Appunti sull'attività giovanile di Luca Cambiaso', in Quaderni della Soprintendenza alle Gallerie e opere d'arte della Liguria, n. 4, Genova, 1956, p. 23
Collection
Prints, Drawings & Paintings Collection
Accession number
2300

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Record createdJanuary 12, 2007
Record URL
https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O130821/saturn-devouring-his-child-drawing-unknown/
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