Italian School, 16th century
Architectural design for an Alterpiece
Pen and brown ink, brown wash over black chalk
352 x 219 mm – 13 7/8 x 8 5/8 in.
Provenance: André-Denis Berard (1806-1873), architect of Paris (L. 75).
This drawing of the Italian school representing a project for an altarpiece belonged to the architect André-Denis Bérard who built up an important collection of ornamental drawings and engravings. He exhibited parts of it during several retrospectives – notably at the exhibition at the Palais de l’Industrie, organized by the Central Union of Decorative Arts[1] and used it for his studies on ancient art in his Dictionnaire biographique des Artistes français du XIIe au XVIIe siècle, published in 1873. There were two sales of his collection of drawings in 1866 and 1891.
[1] Le Catalogue descriptif des dessins de décoration et d’ornement de maîtres anciens, cat. d’exposition par Dreyfus et Ephrussi, notices par L. Clément de Ris, avec une introduction par Ph. de Chennevières, Musée des Arts décoratifs, Paris 1880.
