Lot 435: ATTRIBUTED TO GIOVANNI STEFANO DANEDI, CALLED MONTALTO

TREVIGLIO 1608 - 1689 MILAN DEMETER SEARCHING FOR HER DAUGHTER, PERSEPHONE Pen and brown ink and wash, over black chalk, heightened with white and with touches of pink wash Oval, 305 by 238 mm

Newcastle, 1974, no. 59 (as North Italian School, circa 1600-25); London, 1975, no. 40 (as North Italian School, circa 1600-25); Newcastle, 1982, no. 31, reproduced pl. XIIIA (as North Italian School, circa 1600-25)

Sale, London, Sotheby's, 23 March 1971, lot 202 (as Venetian School, c. 1700), purchased by Ralph Holland

The attribution is proposed on the basis of comparison with a drawing in the Louvre which is preparatory for a painting by Montalto in the church of S. Martino, Treviglio, The Miracle of the Mule.1 The facial types and the treatment of forms seem very similar. Moreover, the di sotto in su perspective and the arrangement of the figures relate closely to his painted works in style and taste.2 Although he painted many religious subjects, Montalto also decorated palaces with mythological and allegorical subjects. The present drawing was clearly intended for a ceiling decoration. 1. C. Le Grand, 'A Drawing by Giovanni Stefano Daneda in the Musée du Louvre,' Master Drawings, XXIX, no. 3, 1991, pp. 311-13, reproduced fig. 1 2. P. Tirloni, 'I Danedi detti Montalto,' I Pittori Bergamaschi, Il Seicento, Bergamo 1985, vol. III, pp. 377-515