Attributed to Guglielmo Caccia, called Il Moncalvo,
Italian 1568-1625-
 

Attributed to Guglielmo Caccia, called Il Moncalvo,

Italian 1568-1625-

Flying Putti holding a veil, crown and swinging a censer;

pen and brown ink, with black chalk and touches of white heightening, on coloured laid paper, 24.4 x 30cm, (mounted, unframed)

Provenance: Sothebys, New York, 14th January 1987, lot 48; Private Collection, New York.

Notes: considered one of the most important and prolific Piedmontese artists of the first quarter of the 17th century, Gugielmo Caccia was probably trained in Casale Monferrato before moving to Vercelli. He was influenced by artists such as Gaudenzio Ferrari and Bernardino Lanino, which is evident in his decoration of one of the chapels of the Sacro Monte at Crea, completed around 1590. In 1593 he settled in the town of Moncalvo, from which he adopted his name. Between 1605 and 1608 he worked in Turin, collaborating with Federico Zuccaro and several other artists on the decoration of the vault of the Grande Galleria and also worked alongside Daniele Crespi in Milan later on in his career.

Although similarly playful putti are found throughout the collection of paintings and frescoes of Moncalvo, the draughtsmanship of the present sheet is perhaps more refined and the faces of the putti more individualized than is usual for the artist. Nevertheless, comparable studies of putti may be found among the drawings by Moncalvo in the Biblioteca Reale in Turin, as well as in a drawing by the artist of putti with musical instruments on clouds, formerly in the collection of Ian Woodner and sold at auction in 1991 (Woodner Sale, Christies, London, 2 July 1991, lot 101).