A Battle of Nude Men

1744/1745

Giovanni Battista Piranesi

Artist, Venetian, 1720 - 1778

Media Options

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Artwork overview

  • Medium

    pen and dark brown ink with brown and gray-brown wash over red chalk on laid paper pasted down on the remains of the artist's original mount

  • Credit Line

    Wolfgang Ratjen Collection, Patrons' Permanent Fund

  • Dimensions

    sheet: 25.8 × 18.4 cm (10 3/16 × 7 1/4 in.)

  • Accession

    2007.111.143

Artwork history & notes

Provenance

(Thomas LeClaire, Hamburg); Wolfgang Ratjen [1943-1997], Vaduz and Munich; purchased 2007 by NGA.

Associated Names

Exhibition History

1995

  • Fünfzig italienische Zeichnungen des 16. - 18. Jahrhunderts aus der Stiftung Ratjen, Vaduz. Liechtensteinischen Staatlichen Kunstsammlung, Vaduz, 1995, no. 46.

1996

  • Italian Drawings from the Ratjen Foundation, Vaduz. The Frick Collection, New York. Bern, 1996, no. 46.

2011

  • Italian Master Drawings from the Wolfgang Ratjen Collection, 1525-1835, National Gallery of Art, Washington, 2011, no. 52.

2014

  • The Poetry of Light - La poesia della luce: Venetian Drawings from the National Gallery of Art, Museo Correr, Venice, Venice, 2014 - 2015, no. 86.

Bibliography

1985

  • Thomas Le Claire Kunsthandel. Handzeichnungen alter Meister, 1500-1800. Vol. 3. Hamburg, 1985: 56-57, no. 31.

1989

  • Ekserdjian, David. "Piranesi and Titian" The Burlington Magazine 131, no. 1039 (October 1989): 702-703, fig. 32.

1990

  • Titian, Prince of Painters. National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1990: 258, under no. 38 (entry by Giovanna Nepi Scirè).

1995

  • Lachenmann, David. Fünfzig italienische Zeichnungen des 16. - 18. Jahrhunderts aus der Stiftung Ratjen, Vaduz. Vaduz, 1995: no. 46.

1996

  • Lachenmann, David. Italian Drawings from the Ratjen Foundation, Vaduz. Exh. cat. The Frick Collection, New York. Bern, 1996: no. 46.

2008

  • Von Leonardo bis Piranesi: Italienische Zeichnungen von 1450 bis 1800 aus dem Kupferstichkabinett der Hamburger Kunsthalle. Hamburger Kunsthalle. Bremen, 2008: 186, under no. 86.

2009

  • Klemm, David. Italienische Zeichnungen, 1450-1800: Zeichnungen aus dem Kupferstichkabinett der Hamburger Kunsthalle. Cologne, 2009: 2: 282, 283 under no. 407*.

2011

  • Italian Drawings from the Wolfgang Ratjen Collection 1525-1835. Exh. cat. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 2011: 120-121.

Inscriptions

lower right, brown ink, signed: Piranesi; verso of Piranesi's mount, at lower right in brown ink [upside down]: B. P. L. 115; upper left, graphite: 19/2324

Watermarks

single circle containing a six pointed star with circle in its center (similar to Briquet 6086/6087 and Heawood 3883, but range of dates and location too wide to be useful)

Wikidata ID

Q64572357

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