Angelika Kauffmann : Cleopatra asks Meleagros to go into battle

Lot description

Angelika Kauffmann Cleopatra asks Meleagros to go into battle c. 1783 black chalk, with a fine brush in grey, light grey wash in places, remains of heightening with white chalk, on grey-beige chalk ground, on laid paper; unframed 24.6-25 x 36.1 cm Signed, verso upper right (black ink): "Angelica Kauffman. del.." collection Alfred Stix (1882-1957), art historian, et al. director of the graphic collection of the Albertina, Vienna; private property, Austria The work is a compositional study for a final, autonomous drawing, which was not intended for transfer into an oil painting. "...It is a compositional study for a final, autonomous drawing that currently cannot be located. For this multi-figure scene, the artist was inspired by Homer's Illiad. The drawing to be examined was not intended for transfer into an oil painting or as a model for a re-engraving. Minor deviations from the executed version, preserved through a pricked outline, indicate that this piece is an earlier draft. The pricked outline by Francesco Bartolozzi (1727-1815) proves that there must have been another, more precisely executed drawing that served as a model for the engraver. As Bartolozzi's engraving was published on April 1, 1783, it is assumed that the drawing under examination was created before April 1783…" (translated from the certificate: Dr. Bettina Baumgärtel, Head of the Angelika Kauffmann Research Project_AKRP, Düsseldorf, 5 November 2024)