Two Nude Children Lifting a Cudgel

c. 1748

Pompeo Batoni

Associated Names
Pompeo Batoni

Artist, Italian, 1708 - 1787

This drawing is a sketch of two young children in dynamic poses. At the top of the sketch is a child sitting with one knee bent, facing the right. They are using one arm to carry a large log or beam on their shoulder. They have short, curly hair and are nude. Below them is a sketch of another child who is also kneeling, their body facing us and their head turned to the right. They are leaning forward with their arms extended to the left, using both hands to pull a long pole. This child has short, straight hair, and they appear to have cloth wrapped around their waist. There are other partial sketches on the page, including part of an arm surrounded by cloth in the bottom right corner and a hand holding a curved object near the upper right corner. The background is a sepia-toned paper with faint grid lines, and the sketches are done in pale red.

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Artwork overview

Artwork history & notes

Provenance

from an album belonging to Veuve Galippe (sale, de Vries, Amsterdam, 27-29 March 1923, lot 515, as Anton Raphael Mengs); Fritz Haussmann, Berlin; Carmen, Countess Finckenstein, Zurich and Ascona. Herbert List, Munich (not in Lugt); Wolfgang Ratjen, Munich; purchased 2007 by NGA.

Associated Names

Exhibition History

1977

  • Stiftung Ratjen. Italienische Zeichnungen des 16. - 18. Jahrhunderts, Graphische Sammlung, Munich; Staatliche Museen Preussischer Kulturbesitz, Berlin; Kunsthalle, Hamburg; Kunstmuseum, Dusseldorf; Staatsgalerie, Stuttgart, 1977 - 1978, Munich, no. 112.

1979

  • Zeichnungen Italienischer Meister aus den Sammlungen Schloss Fachsenfeld, Stiftung Ratjen Vaduz, Staatsgalerie Stuttgart, Staatliche Graphische Sammlung München, Kunstmuseum Lucerne, 1979: 96, no. 166 (not reproduced).

1995

  • Fünfzig italienische Zeichnungen des 16. - 18. Jahrhunderts aus der Stiftung Ratjen, Vaduz, Liechtensteinischen Staatlichen Kunstsammlung, Vaduz, 1995, no. 49.

1996

  • Italian Drawings from the Ratjen Foundation, Vaduz. The Frick Collection, New York. Bern, 1996, no. 49.

2011

  • Italian Master Drawings from the Wolfgang Ratjen Collection, 1525-1835, National Gallery of Art, Washington, 2011, no. 48.

Bibliography

1985

  • Clark, Anthony M. Pompeo Batoni. A Complete Catalogue of His Works with an Introductory Text. Edited and prepared for publication by Edgar Peters Bowron. New York, 1985: 243 (under no. 123), 387, no. D 219.

  • Liechtenstein: The Princely Collections. Exh. cat. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 1985: 225, under no. 144 (entry by Keith Christiansen).

2008

  • Pompeo Batoni, 1708-1787: L'Europa delle Corti e il Grand Tour. Palazzo Ducale, Lussa. Milan, 2008: 207-109, fig. 14.

Wikidata ID

Q64619715

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