(1648-1729) study sheet with a female figures and putti (recto und verso), black chalk, on laid paper with watermark "A tetrapod in a circle", framing lines in pen and brown ink, 21,7 x 17,5 cm, browned, foxing, mounted, unframed, (Sch)

The present drawing is related to the painting Venur and Adonis (Venus observing Adonis sleeping with nymphs and putti; c. 1692) in the garden palace of the Liechtenstein family in Vienna. The painting was assigned to the artist by Prince Johann Adam von Liechtenstein in 1692. It was part of a series with the metamorphoses of Ovid. In this context a cycle of depictions with the goddess Venus was supposed to be installed on the first floor of the palace. After its execution, however, the painting was trimmed and placed as an overdoor painting above the entrance to the festive hall of the palace (comp. Miller 1991, p. 81, No. 14, plate 51). Two preliminary studies in red chalk (comp. Miller 2001, p. 295, Nos. 4881, 4898) are known in Franceschini’s Genoese sketchbook; another, more detailed drawing was recently sold at the English artmarket (Sotheby's London, July, 4 2012, lot 38).

Literature: Dwight C. Miller, Marcantonio Franceschini and the Liechtensteins, Cambridge 1991, p. 49-50, p. 81, No. 15, plate 51 and Miller, Marcantonio Franceschini, Turin 2011, p. 295, Nos. 4881, 4898.