Pietro Antonio Novelli
(Venice, 1729 – Venice, 1804)
Studies of a pope’s head and an angel, with studies of hands and feet
Pen and black ink, gray wash over black chalk lines.
340 mm x 475 mm – 13 3/8 x 18 11/16 in.
Signed lower left “P. A. Novelli,” numbered “398 2 ” lower right.
Watermark: Letters “AS” with a fleur-de-lis.
Pietro Antonio Novelli was a major Venetian painter, draftsman, engraver, and poet of the second half of the 18th century. A student of Jacopo Guarana, he was part of the great Venetian Settecento tradition while gradually evolving from a style influenced by Giambattista Tiepolo and Pietro Longhi toward a clarity of composition that foreshadowed Neoclassicism. Highly prolific, he created numerous large-scale fresco murals and altarpieces in Venice, the Veneto region, Bologna, and Rome, and distinguished himself through his remarkable talent as a draftsman.
This sheet illustrates the artist’s virtuosity and technical mastery in detailed preparatory studies, combining the finesse of pen and black chalk lines with the softness of gray wash to render volumes, skin tones, and lighting effects.
This is an important study sheet featuring the bust of a pope (or a saintly pontiff) wearing the tiara, his gaze turned toward the heavens, alongside a winged angel holding a scroll in the foreground. The artist enriches his composition with several independent detailed anatomical studies, notably an open hand at the bottom center and studies of feet at the bottom right, intended for the development of a large altarpiece or a religious fresco.
The sheet bears the characteristic signature “P. A. Novelli” in the lower left corner as well as an old inventory number ( “3982” ) in the lower right corner. The paper features a traditional Venetian watermark depicting the initials “AS” surmounted by a fleur-de-lis, an 18th-century Italian manufacturer’s mark frequently used by Novelli.
Similar anatomical and figurative study sheets by Pietro Antonio Novelli, executed in pen and gray wash, are held in several major public collections, notably at the Museo Correr in Venice and the Department of Drawings at the Louvre Museum.
Condition report: Very good condition.
