Lot 85: * FERDINANDO GALLI BIBIENA BOLOGNA 1657 - 1743

ARCHITECTURAL FANTASY OF A PALACE COURTYARD

ARCHITECTURAL FANTASY OF A PALACE COURTYARD

measurements note
199 by 243mm; 7 13/16 by 9 9/16 in

pen and brown ink and grey wash, a strip added across the top

PROVENANCE

Edward and Mary Brandegee (according to Steiner catalogue);
acquired by John and Alice Steiner in 1974

EXHIBITED

Santa Barbara, California, Santa Barbara Museum of Art, Old Master Drawings from the Collection of John and Alice Steiner, 1986, pp. 30-31, cat. no. 7, reproduced.

NOTE

The Galli-Bibiena family were prolific and successful artists, active throughout Europe for several generations. They are known for their stage designs and architectural fantasies, and as they developed a family style it is often extremely difficult to distinguish between their hands. The author of the entry in the Steiner exhibition catalogue felt the perspective angle and the more plausible architecture of this fantasy indicate it is by Ferdinando rather than by his son Antonio, to whom it had previously been attributed.