An Angel Carrying a Torch

c. 1500/1504

Filippino Lippi

Artist, Florentine, 1457 - 1504

The "Chief Framer"

Artist, Italian, 1500 - 1600

A winged angel wearing a long billowing robe and holding a torch balances or lands on their left foot, on our right, in this vertical drawing. Created with dark brown ink against cream-white paper, the person is sketchily drawn so some of the details are indistinct. The right foot, on our left, is raised behind the angel, who looks down in that direction. A wing stretches out above, making an arc to our left. The edge of a column and base lines the right edge of the paper. The background behind the angel is slate blue. The drawing with the angel has been cut out near its edges and affixed to a sheet the same blue. Some white clouds billow up around the angel's feet.

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Artwork overview

Associated Artworks

See all 9 artworks

Saint Roch between Saints Anthony Abbot and Catherine of Alexandria

Raffaellino del Garbo, The "Chief Framer"

1485

Man with a Stick

Filippino Lippi, The "Chief Framer"

1500

Various Figure Studies

Filippino Lippi, The "Chief Framer"

1493

Artwork history & notes

Provenance

Giorgio Vasari [1511-1574]; Niccolò Gaddi [d. 1591]; possibly Thomas Howard, Earl of Arundel; probably William Cavendish, 2nd Duke of Devonshire [1672-1729]; by descent, Chatsworth (inv.no.960) (sale, London, Christie's, 3 July 1984, lot 46); purchased by Ian Woodner, New York; by inheritance to his daughters, Andrea and Dian Woodner, New York, 1990; purchased by NGA, 1991.

Associated Names

Exhibition History

1930

  • Italian Drawings Exhibited at the Royal Academy, Royal Academy of Arts, London, 1930, no. 50 (recto only).

1949

  • Old Master Drawings from Chatsworth, Arts Council of Great Britain, London, 1949, no. 10.

1962

  • Old Master Drawings from Chatsworth: A Loan Exhibition from the Devonshire Collection, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C. and elsewhere, 1962-63, no. 36.

1969

  • Old Master Drawings from Chatsworth: A Loan Exhibition from the Devonshire Collection, Royal Academy of Arts, London, 1969, no. 36.

1973

  • Old Master Drawings from Chatsworth: A Loan Exhibition from the Devonshire Collection, Victoria and Albert Museum, London, 1973-74, no. 36.

1985

  • Master Drawings from the Woodner Collection, Fogg Art Museum, Harvard University, Cambridge, 1985, no. 76 (checklist only).

1986

  • Meisterzeichnungen aus Sechs Jahrhunderten: Die Sammlung Ian Woodner, Haus der Kunst, Munich and Vienna, 1986, no. 24.

  • Dibujos de los siglos XIV al XX: Colección Woodner, Museo del Prado, Madrid, 1986-87, no. 29.

1987

  • Master Drawings from the Woodner Collection, Royal Academy of Arts, London, 1987, no. 22.

1990

  • Master Drawings from the Woodner Collection, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 1990, no. 29.

1995

  • The Touch of the Artist: Master Drawings from the Woodner Collections, National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1995-1996, no. 9.

1997

  • The Drawings of Filippino Lippi and his Circle, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 1997-1998, nos. 6, 51, 64, 66, 79, 80, 84, 107, 108, 117.

2000

  • Art for the Nation: Collecting for a New Century, National Gallery of Art, Washington, 2000-2001, 132-135.

  • Sandro Botticelli, Der Bilderzyklus zu Dantes Göttlicher Komödie. Kulturforum, Berlin; Scuderie Papali al Quirinale, Rome; Royal Academy, London, 2000-2001, 364, 365 (.1.a only, as Botticelli) (shown only in Berlin).

Bibliography

2013

  • Schenck, Kimberly, et al. "A Page from Giorgio Vasari's Libro de' Disegni as Composite Object." Facture 1 (2013): 2, 10, 25, 26, 27, 28, figs. 5a-5b, 21, 22a-22c (color).

Wikidata ID

Q64561482

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