Saturn Devouring his Child

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Prints & Drawings Study Room, level H

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
Title	Saturn 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 type	Unique
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 created	January 12, 2007
Record URL	https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O130821/saturn-devouring-his-child-drawing-unknown/

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