Pietro Antonio DE' PIETRI (Premia, 1663 - Rome, 1716) David and Goliath.

Pietro Antonio DE' PIETRI
(Premia, 1663 - Rome, 1716)
David and Goliath
Pen and brown ink over black stone sketch
Diam. 120 mm
Provenance: L. 2240, unidentified antique mark on mounting
Comparative bibliography: Catherine Loisel-Legrand and Domitille d'Ormesson-Peugeot, La Rome baroque de Maratti à Piranèse: Dessins du Louvre et des collections publiques (Musée du Louvre, RMN, November 15, 1990 - February 18, 1991, pp. 90 - 96; Dieter Graf, "Neues zu Pietro de' Pietri", Römisches Jachbuch der Bibliotheca Hertziana, Band 33, (1999/2000), pp. 427-478.


A recent arrival on the French market, this attractive little sheet in a circular format and recognizable style should be added to Pietro de' Pietri's corpus, a number of whose drawings are held by the British Museum in London. Whether in pen or black stone, this artist's drawings form a highly homogeneous and easily identifiable group. Here, the angular, discontinuous lines nevertheless create the illusion of volume, rendered almost sculptural by light touches of wash. The origin of this composition can be traced back to Raphael, whose idea was widely disseminated through engraving.
In our drawing, Pietro de' Pietri brings together two works on this theme: one by Guido Reni in the Rau collection, and another painting of which we have found an image, but which is unfortunately undocumented and for which we are continuing our research.
Pietro de' Pietri, an artist of Lombardy origin, studied in the studio of Giuseppe Ghezzi (1634 - 1721), then in that of Carlo Maratti (1625 - 1713), with whom he collaborated on numerous church paintings in Rome. Unfortunately, many of these paintings have disappeared. Nevertheless, his large body of graphic work gives us some idea of his output.