ANDREA MELDOLLA, IL SCHIAVONE (Zara circa 1510-1563 Venice) Bellona.
Pen and brown ink and brown and gray washes with white gouache heightening on yellowish brown prepared paper. 235x152 mm; 91/4x6 inches.
Likely the preparatory drawing for the engraving by Schiavone (Bartsch 77). There is a similar pair of drawings on 2 sides of a single sheet, also apparently representing Bellona, in the Pushkin Museum, Moscow (see Marina Maiskaya, I grandi disegni italiani del Museo Puskin di Mosca, Milan, 1986, figure 15). There is also a related drawing in the Boymans-Van Beuningen Museum, Rotterdam, which shows Bellona posed differently, resting her right arm on a long sword or lance (reference number 136). This drawing is a study for another print of Bellona by Schiavone (Bartsch 76).
The current work has received a verbal authentication from David Ekserdjian as well as a written authentication from Mario di Giampaolo, Galleria degli Uffizi, Florence.
