Allegory with Figures of Hope, Time, and Death

Signature: No watermark is visible: the entire sheet has been pasted down onto a mount.

Inscription: Illegible annotation in graphite at lower left corner of sheet (see also acc. no. 62.120.6).
Annotated in pen and brown ink at lower right, "Seb. Ricci."
Annotated on old mat, in pen and brown ink, at center of lower border, "Sebastiano Ricci," at lower left corner, "164.2," and, at bottom right, "WE" (Lugt 2617).
Annotated on verso of old mat, in graphite, "ZI [or 21]/ UFFZ," at upper left corner in graphite, "6," and, at lower left, "R. Willett's colln WE [Lugt 2617] P 86 N 164."

Old annotations on mat, on the left, "Horace. / (Livre II. Ode XIV.) // Eheu! fugaces, Posthume, Posthume, / Labuntur anni, nec pietas moram // Rugis, et instanti senectae / adferet, indomitae que morti ... // Linguenda tellus, et domus, et placens uxor ...!";
on the bottom, "Entre le Temps et la Mort, / l'Homme invoque l'Espérance.";
on the right, "Horace. / (Livre I. Ode IV.) // Vitae summa brevis spem nos vetat / inchoare longam. //
...sed credula vitam / spes fovet, et melius cras fore semper ait. / Tibulle. / (Livre II. Elègie VII.)"

Marking: Collector's mark in pen and brown ink on old mat, bottom right "WE" (Lugt 2617).
Annotated on mount, on verso, in pen and brown ink, "J:B N:512. / 11¼ by 7½" (Lugt 1420).

R. Willett(according to Esdaile's annotation); William Esdaile (British); Paul Prouté, Paris (French)(sale catalogue Prouté 1967: F. 12.500,-)

New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Drawings from New York Collections: Eighteenth Century in Italy," January 30–March 21, 1971.

Dessins originaux anciens et modernes. Estampes anciennes du XVe au XVIIIe siècles. Estampes originales de maîtres des XIXe et XXe siècles. En vente aux prix marqués chez Paul Prouté et ses fils. Catalogue "Desrais". Paul Prouté, Paris, Paris, 1967, cat. no. 25, fig. no. 24, p. 12.

Jacob Bean "Ninety-eighth Annual Report of the Trustees for the Fiscal Year 1967-1968, Reports of the Departments: Drawings." in The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, n.s. vol. 27, no. 2, New York, October 1968, pp. 85-86.

Jacob Bean, Felice Stampfle Drawings from New York Collections, vol. III: Eighteenth Century Italian Drawings. Exh. cat., The Metropolitan Museum of Art. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Morgan Library & Museum, New York, 1971, cat. no. 6, pp. 22-23.

Aldo Rizzi Sebastiano Ricci disegnatore. Exh. cat., Museo Civico, Sala Aiace del Comune, Udine. Museo Civico, Sala Aiace del Comune, Udine, Udine, 1975, cat. no. no. 118, ill.

Jacob Bean, Lawrence Turčić 17th century Italian Drawings in The Metropolitan Museum of Art. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 1979, cat. no. 319, fig. no. 319, p. 241., ill.