price: U.S. $10,000

GIULIO ROMANO

Rome 1499? — 1546 Mantua

An Herm Holding a Bowl on his Head

traces of black chalk underdrawing, pen & brown ink. 5 1/8 x 1 5/8" (130 x 41mm). laid down to Richardson't ruled mount which is inscribed Giulio Romano and the verso of which bears his shelf numbers: J:49: AA:69 C.

provenance:
Jonathan Richardson, Senior (L.2183);
probably his sale London, Cock, 22 January - 10 February 1747;
Ray Livingston Murphy, NY (1923-1953);
Murphy's estate sale at Christies, London, 12 December 1985 whence sold to Adolphe Stein;
private collection.

This tiny but typical and typically evocative drawing was extracted from an album formed in the 18th century by the painter and major drawings collector Jonathan Richardson, Senior. It was one of ten small drawings by Giulio which were still retained together until their sale by the estate of Ray Livingston Murphy in 1985 whereupon they were dispersed.

I am not sure how to date this ornamental design but I suspect that it was done soon after Giulio left Rome in 1524 to work for the Gonzaga in Mantua. As court artist there, this versatile artist, whose drawings were absolutely essential to his working methods, produced designs for metalwork, tableware, tapestries, monuments, frescoes, paintings, buildings, and more. This herm is typically bacchic, a prevalent character in much of Giulio's work. Indeed, this herm seems to be grinning as he holds up a large chalice or bowl, shall we guess, filled with wine, while his torso is draped in goatskin ( which also is known to be used as a vessel containing Bacchus' wine), and a goat skull marks his manhood. Vines (presumably grape) spiral around his pedastal-like lower section. These hedonistic features draw heavily on ancient motives which were constant sources throughout Giulio's career. One drawing recently exhibited in NY bears mention.1 It is a design for a handle with two satyrs interlocking and many of their attributes are the same.

As to the purpose of this study, one can only speculate. Yet this herm seems quite likely an early idea for one of the herms, the one of Bacchus, framing mythological compositions, perhaps for the Stalle del Te, as known from a pair of modelli in the Louvre.2 Nothing of the interior of the stables exist, but Frederick Hartt believed that the Louvre drawings are both stylistically and iconographically appropriate for decorations there.3 If Hartt is correct, that would tend to support my dating of around 1524, soon after Giulio's arrival in Mantua, as the stables were designed before the Palazzo del Te. The herms were presumably executed in stucco, while the compositions they flanked would have been in fresco. This format of terminal figures in relief and framed scenes in fresco, was to become the standard for 16th century palace design from the Palazzo Vecchio to Fontainebleau.
1

Janet Cox-Rearick, Giulio Romano, Master Designer, Virginia Lithograph, 1999, cat. # 12, pp. 64-65.

2

Frederick Hartt, Giulio Romano, Yale University Press, 1958, reissued by Hacker Art Books, NY., cat. # 139, fig 149.

3

Hartt, op. cit. pp. 88-89.