Lot 327: DONATO CRETI

CREMONA 1671 - 1749 BOLOGNA FOURTEEN HEAD STUDIES Pen and brown ink and wash 184 by 271 mm

Newcastle, 1960, no. 52 (as Pietro Antonio Novelli); Newcastle, 1964, no. 83 (as Pietro Antonio Novelli)

Colonel Gould Weston, by whose executors sold, London, Christie's, 15 July 1958, in lot 125, purchased by Ralph Holland

Creti produced numerous sheets of head studies and this is a fine example of that genre. The characteristic hatching and occasional highlights in dark brown ink are very typical of his penmanship. Head studies became popular commissions in the 18th century and were very much sought after by collectors as works of art in their own right. A close stylistic comparison can be made with a study, Head of a young man wearing a hat, formerly in the Certani collection, and now in the Fondazione Cini, Venice.1 In the present sheet as well as in the Cini study, Creti has used a slightly thicker pen, resulting in stronger contrasts of light and shadows. Similar sheets of studies were sold, New York, Christie's, 12 January 1995, lot 43, and in these Rooms, 17 April 1980, lot 225. 1. Inv. no. 31474; M. Riccomini, Donato Creti, Le opere su carta, Turin 2012, p. 77, no. 90.32, reproduced