Lot 245: JAN VAN DER STRAET, CALLED STRADANUS

BRUGES 1523 - 1605 FLORENCE DESIGN FOR AN EPHEMERAL DECORATION WITH THE COAT-OF-ARMS OF PAUL V, BORGHESE Pen and brown ink and blue and reddish coloured washes over red chalk; a small section at the top margin to the right pasted on by the artist; bears old attribution in pen and ink, verso: Francesco Villamena and an old pen and ink inscription: H Iodoor 295 by 432 mm

Newcastle, 1982, no. 49 (as Roman School c. 1605-1615)

Sale, London, Sotheby's, 7 December 1978, lot 28 (as Roman School, early 17th century), purchased by Ralph Holland

The style of this drawing is typical of Stradanus. It must relate to an ephemeral decoration celebrating either Camillo Borghese, who became Pope Paul V in May 1605, or his nephew Scipione, who became a cardinal in July 1605. Two vertical compositions with generalised military scenes flank the central panel and, as Mr. Holland noted, in both tablets below them the name SIPIONE can be read. Above the left one is a cardinal's hat surmounting the Borghese arms. The papal coat-of-arms in the centre is above an allegorical representation of Minerva flanked by two female figures, with two male prisoners below. It is possible that this 'apparato festivo' relates to the Cardinal nipote more than to the Pope himself. It appears that Stradanus was active until the very end of his life. He seems to have finished his last work just before his death, aged eighty-two, a 'testa di christo fatta a olio' for the Compagnia di Santa Barbara, whose chapel was in the church of the SS. Annunziata. Stradanus died on 4 November 1605, and was buried in that same chapel.