Drawing, Design for a chimney-piece by an anonymous draughtsman, French school, 1530s-early 1540s

Design for a chimney-piece: the upper part consisting of three bays divided by engaged columns, each bay surmounted by a pinnacled structure, while the outer bays of the upper part each decorated with a blank oval cartouche supported by nude figures; another scene with figures in the central bay; on the top smaller niches with cupids.

Part of a lot of 5 drawings (1538 to 1542) purchased from Grumer(?) in 1857.

Originally acquired as a design by Federico Zuccaro, M.A.E. Popham (written communication, Feb 1932) and subsequently G. Wanklyn (written communication, Jan 1975) suggested that this drawing was executed by Etienne Delaune on grounds of stylistic resemblance with, respectively, Delaune’s drawings in the British Museum and a drawing in lavender ink and wash, and of the same subject, in the Ashmolean museum, Oxford, (box V of Delaune drawings).

In 1977, Janet S Byrne published this drawing and its companion piece (1542) along with two drawings of similar size and character in the Biblioteca Nacional, Madrid (pls 15 & 16); the latter two were subsequently published in the catalogue of the 15th and 16th century drawings for architecture and ornament in the collection of the National Library of Spain (E.M. Santiago Páez (ed.), Dibujos de Arquitectura y Ornamentacion de la Biblioteca Nacional. Siglos XVI y XVII, Madrid 1991, nrs 286-287). The Madrid drawings are catalogued in Madrid as by Jacques Androuet du Cerceau. Like the V&A drawings those in Madrid are also numbered in their upper right hand corners, 22 and 29 respectively, indicating a common source for all four drawings.

However Prof. Dr Peter Fuhring has pointed out (written communication, April 2012) that 1541 (and its companion piece 1542) is not by Jacques Androuet du Cerceau, though it has been occasionally published under his name. Three of the sheets bear a manuscript number top right (the fourth drawings has been cut) and this seems to suggest that they all come from an album of similar drawings that has been taken apart in the 19th century and of which no further sheets have been localised. 1541 is therefore considered to be by an unidentified draughtsman, occasionally called precursor, whose work can be dated from the 1530’s and early 1540’s.

Although this design for an elaborate chimney-piece has been published under the name of Jacques Androuet du Cerceau (c. 1515-1585), it was executed by a still unidentified artist. Such elaborated designs are often confused with the oeuvre of Androuet du Cerceau, one of the greatest architects in 16th-century France in the tradition of Sebastiano Serlio (1475-ca. 1554) and Andrea Palladio (1508-1580). The piece is decorated with an interesting combination of nude figures, reminiscent of mythological scenes, and a scene from the Old Testament in the centre: the Judgement of Salomon, surmounted on both sides by the figures of Adam and Eve. The very top of the structure shows the Creation of Eve.

1541