A Seated Slave

Pietro Antonio Novelli Italian

Not on view

A contemporary of Domenico Tiepolo, Novelli was a decorative painter and prolific draftsman. This drawing is a copy after one of the four bronze sculptures of slaves on the base of the monument to the Grand Duke Ferdinand I de’ Medici of Tuscany (Piazza Giuseppe Micheli, Livorno, Italy). These highly dynamic figures of bronze enchained captives, positioned at the four corners of the pedestal in crouching postures, were designed by the sculptor Pietro Tacca and installed in 1626. The marble statue of Ferdinand I surmounting the pedestal was sculpted by Giovanni Bandini, whose work is exhibited nearby.

A Seated Slave, Pietro Antonio Novelli (Italian, Venice 1729–1804 Venice), Pen and black ink, gray wash, over black chalk

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A Seated Slave, Pietro Antonio Novelli (Italian, Venice 1729–1804 Venice), Pen and black ink, gray wash, over black chalk
A Seated Slave, Pietro Antonio Novelli (Italian, Venice 1729–1804 Venice), Pen and black ink, gray wash, over black chalk

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