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Allegorical Composition: Music and Justice with the Spinola Arms

1639–1709
Not on view
Once owned by the distinguished French collector Pierre-Jean Mariette (1694-1774), this highly finished drawing appears in the 1775-76 sale catalogue of his collection. It has been identified as preparatory for the frontispiece of "Il Corradino," a libretto for a tragedy set in medieval Naples, written by Antonio Caraccio (1630-1702), and published in Rome in 1694 (see Rome 1994, and Bibliography). The fasces held by a cherub at the upper right and the scales are attributes of Justice, who prominently bears a shield with the arms of the Spinola, among Genoa's oldest patrician families. "Il Corradino" was dedicated to Giovanni Battista Spinola, then governor of Rome. The seated female figure holding an array of wind instruments may personify Euterpe, the Muse of lyric poetry and music, an appropriate reference in a libretto. The Bay of Naples and Mount Vesuvius are depicted in the distant background (Bean 1979, no. 226). The Metropolitan Museum sheet is closer in design to the published frontispiece, engraved by Robert van Audenaerde, than is a related drawing in the Kunstmuseum, Düsseldorf (inv. no. FP 1929)

(Carmen C. Bambach, 1995, revised 2014)

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: Allegorical Composition: Music and Justice with the Spinola Arms
  • Artist: Giovanni Battista Gaulli (Il Baciccio) (Italian, Genoa 1639–1709 Rome)
  • Date: 1639–1709
  • Medium: Pen and brown ink, brush and brown wash, highlighted with white, over black chalk, on rose-washed paper
  • Dimensions: 7-13/16 x 5-5/16 in. (19.9 x 13.5 cm)
  • Classification: Drawings
  • Credit Line: Rogers Fund, 1963
  • Object Number: 63.103.2
  • Curatorial Department: Drawings and Prints

More Artwork

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Allegory of the Immaculate Conception, Giovanni Battista Gaulli (Il Baciccio) Italian, Pen and brown ink, brush and gray wash. Squared in black chalk
Allegory of the Immaculate Conception
Giovanni Battista Gaulli (Il Baciccio)
1639–1709
Christ Giving the Host to a Holy Abbess (after Gaulli), Giovanni Battista Gaulli (Il Baciccio) Italian, Pen and brown ink, brush and gray wash. Squared in black chalk
Christ Giving the Host to a Holy Abbess (after Gaulli)
Giovanni Battista Gaulli (Il Baciccio)
1639–1709
Allegorical Figure of Faith, Giovanni Battista Gaulli (Il Baciccio) Italian, Pen and brown ink, brush and brown wash, highlighted with white, over a little black chalk, on brownish paper
Allegorical Figure of Faith
Giovanni Battista Gaulli (Il Baciccio)
1672
Christ Giving the Host to a Holy Abbess, Giovanni Battista Gaulli (Il Baciccio) Italian, Pen and brown ink, brush and gray wash. Squared in black chalk
Christ Giving the Host to a Holy Abbess
Giovanni Battista Gaulli (Il Baciccio)
1690
Prophets, Patriarchs, Saints, and Music-Making Angels in Glory, Giovanni Battista Gaulli (Il Baciccio) Italian, Pen and brown ink, brush and gray wash, over black chalk
Prophets, Patriarchs, Saints, and Music-Making Angels in Glory
Giovanni Battista Gaulli (Il Baciccio)
1639–1709

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