Old European Sketch Painting: Who is this lady?

Hi all,

Has anyone seen this face before?

This sketch, glued on hardboard, was used to paint a wall somewhere (maybe a church, maybe in Rome?).

Given the name on the back (Judgement, Roma) and the stance of this lady (looking upward and in shock), this could be related to the Judgement of Solomon by...an unknown artist? The lady could be one of the two mothers maybe... I could be completely off, happy to hear your thoughts...

I inherited this 'sketch' painting, among others, from my great grandfather, who lived in Brussels.

The dimensions are as follows: H20cm x W15cm.

No signature visible.

The text in the back states (I believe):

Judgement, Rome
Sold in 1910 for 6,500 Belgian Francs, (in today's money approximately 3,000 USD).

The rest of the text describes the painters process: First the idea, "Bozzetti", followed by the draft, then the 'enlargement' by squaring technique 'la miss au carreau', and finally the application on the wall by some needle technique which would have punched ink through the hardboard.

I hope this is interesting to you and I look forward to your comments!

Many thanks in advance.
Sam

Judgement 1 by Sam Hills posted Dec 29, 2020 at 6:14 PM

Judgement Back by Sam Hills posted Dec 29, 2020 at 6:14 PM

 

Looks to me you have what we call a "fragment" there. By the broad strokes, this was probably part of a LARGE painting that got damaged or for some other reason cut into pieces.

See these around here and there, dealers did this quite a bit in the past.

 

It does say it's a fragment of a cartoon. I wouldn't assume that's "a lady" though.

Debora

 

Bozetti is another word for maquette from what I saw - a preliminary drawing.

 

As Blooey said, it would have been part of a very large painting (maybe on a wall). I do hope a copy of the full image exists out there somewhere. Maybe someone will recognise it at one point. I'd love to see it by chance one day, maybe in a museum!

I have tried uploading this to Google Picture searching for similarities. Alas, without success.

As an example, here is the type of setting I imagine this to be part of: Judgement of Solomon

 

What source are you using for your historical currency conversion?

Debora

 

Debora,

I can't find the link anymore but I based it on the evolution of the price of a loaf of bread over 100 years. It increased 17 fold.

Assuming the marked number (6,500F) is a price at all, in Belgian Francs and the year is correct..

 

I don't see an indication for Belgium francs, just francs. What am I missing?

Debora

 

Could be French Francs too.

But Belgian Francs also used the F symbol (F, f., FB, Fr). I assume this was bought in Belgium..

 

It sounds like the description might be referring to "pouncing", which was a method for transferring a drawing to a freshly plastered surface in creating a fresco. A drawing/cartoon on paper was pricked along the important outlines, laid onto the plaster surface, and a small cloth bag of charcoal was patted over the holes to mark the design. The drawing would be only a portion of the scene, as much as could be finished in the period of time when the plaster was still wet and receptive to the paint.

 

The old "staring upward" look was first popularized by Reni, so lots of portraits were painted in this aspect by his followers and contemporaries from the early 1600's on.

I have one myself, commissioned by a popular 17thc courtesan that fancied herself as the goddess Flora.

 

will be hard to find a historical currency converter for old Belgian Francs. already in the 1970s there was a joke in Northern France about going to Belgium to change FF into BF when they needed wallpaper for the toilet....

 

Great to know and very interesting. Agreed, it could be many other settings too.

However, if you look closely at the bottom left of her dress, it appears to be undone. Her breast could be showing out in the full scene.

This is also the case in the Judgement of Solomon, here some examples.

Quite difficult to determine anything with so little to work with...

Appreciate everyone’s input so far!

Thanks,
Sam

 

All those examples are shown with coiffed hair. I'm certainly not insisting it's the image of a youth but, traditionally in art, unbound hair shown on a female figure was an announcement of her status e.g. a maiden, a married woman shown in domestic intimacy or a prostitute. Today, with our modern eyes, we read it as just a hair style choice.

Debora

 

Debora,

Thank you for that very important observation. My hypothesis has been completely rejected by this telling detail!

At least we know what it isn’t!

 

Not "completely rejected," Sam. Just providing another possibility.

Debora