The Sacrifice of a Goat to Jupiter

c. 1527/1528

Giulio Romano

Associated Names
Giulio Romano

Artist, Roman, 1499 - 1546

This is a drawing of a ritualistic scene with figures and a sacrificial animal. The drawing features three figures participating in a ceremonial or sacrificial act. One figure kneels beside a horned animal, holding its horns. Flames rise from an altar in the background, suggesting a sacrificial offering. Another figure stands by the altar, gesturing upwards with one hand. The artwork is detailed with fine lines and shading, capturing the garments and poses of the participants.

Media Options

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Artwork overview

  • Medium

    pen and brown ink with brown wash over black chalk on laid paper

  • Credit Line

    Ailsa Mellon Bruce Fund

  • Dimensions

    Overall: 28.9 x 20.9 cm (11 3/8 x 8 1/4 in.)
    support: 42.5 x 34.5 cm (16 3/4 x 13 9/16 in.)

  • Accession Number

    1973.47.1

Artwork history & notes

Provenance

Benjamin West; Sir Thomas Lawrence (Lugt 2445); (Samuel Woodburn); Lord Francis Egerton, 1st Earl of Ellesmere (Lust 2710b); by descent in his family (sale, Sotheby's, London, 5 December 1972, no. 48); (Richard Day, London); NGA purchase in 1973.

Associated Names

Exhibition History

1836

  • Fifth Exhibition. Julio Romano, Francesco Primaticcio, Leonardo da Vinci and Perino del Vaga, The Lawrence Gallery, London, 1836, no. 13 (catalogue by Samuel Woodburn).

1954

  • The Ellesmere Collection of Old Master Drawings, The Museums and Art Gallery, Leicester, 1954, no. 100.

1974

  • Recent Acquisitions and Promised Gifts, National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1974, p. 200.

1979

  • The Draftsman's Eye, Late Italian Renaissance Schools and Styles, The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1979 (the catalogue published in 1981), pp. 54, 88-89, no. 63 (as after Giulio Romano)(catalogue for the exhibition held in Cleveland in 1979).

1988

  • Italian Renaissance Drawings, National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC, 1988, no cat.

1989

  • Fürsthöfe der Renaissance, Giulio Romano und die Klassische Tradition, Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna, 1989, p. 164, no. IV/61.

  • Giulio Romano, Palazzo Te, Mantua, 1989, p. 405.

2020

  • Raphael and His Circle: Prints and Drawings from the National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 2020, no cat.

Bibliography

1898

  • Catalogue of the Ellesmere Collection of Drawings at Bridgewater House. London, 1898: no. 50.

1958

  • Hartt, Frederick. Giulio Romano. New Haven, 1958, 1: 185, 301, no. 227.

1983

  • Shearman, John. Early Italian Pictures in the Collection of Her Majesty the Queen. Cambridge, 1983: 123.

Wikidata ID

Q64572471

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