A Battle on a Bridge

c.1600

Giovanni Balducci

Associated Names
Giovanni Balducci

Artist, Italian, c. 1560 - 1631 or after

This is a drawing of a battle scene. The drawing depicts figures engaged in combat, including warriors on foot and horseback. The composition shows movement and energy, with figures wielding weapons like spears and shields, and horses in mid-gallop. A blue wash adds depth and contrast to the monochrome sketch, highlighting the musculature of the figures and animals. The scene is set on an elevated platform or bridge, with figures falling or tumbling over the edge, adding drama and action to the artwork.

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Artwork overview

  • Medium

    pen and brown ink with blue wash over black chalk, squared for transfer in black chalk, on laid paper

  • Credit Line

    Joseph F. McCrindle Collection

  • Dimensions

    sheet: 26.7 x 39.2 cm (10 1/2 x 15 7/16 in.)

  • Accession Number

    2010.93.17

Artwork history & notes

Provenance

(Sotheby's, London, 1 July 1936, part of lot 95 [as Bellisario Corenzio]); Sir Robert Witt [1872-1952], London; Anthony Blunt [1907-1983], London; (Brian Sewell, London, 1968); Joseph F. McCrindle [1923-2008], New York; bequest to NGA, 2008.

Associated Names

Exhibition History

1964

  • The Sir Anthony Blunt Collection. Courtauld Institute Galleries, London, 1964, no. 8 (as Belisario Corenzio, "Episode from the Life of Juan of Austria").

1991

  • Old Master Drawings from the Collection of Joseph F. McCrindle. The Art Museum, Princeton University, Princeton, 1991, 72-73, no. 27 (as Corenzio)(cat. by Frederick A. den Broeder).

2012

  • The McCrindle Gift: A Distinguished Collection of Drawings and Watercolors. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 2012, 40-41, no. 9 (entry by Oliver Tostmann).

Bibliography

1965

  • Vitzthum, Walter. Review of The Sir Anthony Blunt Collection. Master Drawings 3, no. 4 (Winter 1965): 405 (as Corenzio).

1982

  • Bean, Jacob, and Lawrence Turcic. 15th and 16th Century Italian Drawings in the Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 1982: 66, under no. 54 (as Corenzio).

1992

  • Di Giampaolo, Mario. "Balducci o Corenzio? Un'ipotesi." Kunst des Cinquecento in der Toskana (Italienische Forschungen erausgegeben vom Kunsthistorischen Institut in Florenz, Folge 3, Band 17). Edited by Monika Cämmerer. Munich, 1992: 332.

  • "An Exhibition of Master Drawings Presented by Jean-Luc Baroni." Exh. cat. Colnaghi, New York and London. London, 1992: under no. 22.

1994

  • Harris, Ann Sutherland. Review of Old Master Drawings from the Collection of Joseph F. McCrindle. Master Drawings 32, no. 1 (Spring 1994): 69.

2010

  • Di Giampaolo, Mario. "Balducci o Corenzio? Un'ipotesi." Reprint of 1992 article in Mario Di Giampaolo, Scritti dul disegno italiano 1971-2008. Edited by Cristiana Garofalo. Florence, 2010: 327.

Inscriptions

by a later hand, lower left in graphite: 2789J

Watermarks

fleur de lys atop three hills in circle with the initial M on top (Briquet 11933 and 11937)

Wikidata ID

Q64572307

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