Lot 346: GIROLAMO ODAM

ROME 1681 - 1741 AN ENGRAVED ANTIQUE GEM IN AN ELABORATE DECORATIVE SETTING Pen and brown ink and grey wash; signed and dated in pen and brown ink: Hier. Odam Eques Romanus delineabat Romae An: 1722 and inscribed with description 515 by 363 mm

Newcastle, 1964, no. 65

Purchased from G. Norman, circa 1958

The gem at the centre of this drawing was engraved for Baron Philippe von Stosch's highly important and influential book Gemmae Antiquae Caelatae, published in 1724. It seems likely that von Stosch sold, or gave, the original sardonyx gem to Henry Davenant, the British Envoy Extraordinary in Florence, who came to Rome in 1722 to discuss diplomatic matters with von Stosch. The original was subsequently in the Devonshire Collection, Chatsworth, while von Stosch seems to have kept a glass paste copy for himself. A similar drawing by Odam, of a famous gem known as the Strozzi Medusa, is in the Philadelphia Museum of Art.1 Odam's engraving after that drawing is known in two states, dated 1715 and 1717. It is probable that the present drawing was also intended for a print, although the setting in which the gem is placed is far more elaborate than any of the illustrations in von Stosch's book. Baron von Stosch (1691-1757) was a colourful character. He settled in Rome where he was passionately involved with a group of antiquarians, collecting and dealing in art and antiquities, especially engraved gems. Eventually, having been exposed as a spy in the employ of the British government, hired to inform on the Stuart court in exile, he had to flee Rome and moved to Florence where, as well as continuing his antiquarian interests, he pursued eccentric spiritual and philosophical enquiries. His publication on gems, for which this drawing is a study, was extremely influential in the formation of Neoclassical taste throughout Europe and England. His own collection of gems is mainly in the Berlin museum, his large collection of drawings by Borromini is in Vienna, and his library was bought for the Vatican. 1. Bequest of Anthony Clark, inv. no. 1978-70-373; A Scholar Collects, exhib. cat., Phildelphia, Philadelphia Museum of Art, 1980, no. 11, reproduced