Attributed to Alberto Alberti (Italian, 1526 – 1599)

Attributed to Alberto Alberti (Italian, 1526 – 1599) Study of an anthropomorphic decorative design [with various decorative & architectural motifs in the same hand verso]. Pen and brown ink, over black chalk, on blue wove paper, numbered upper right "24", bears ink stamp lower right, thought to be Lugt 5853, 28 x 19 cm. The present drawing derives from the same folio as two sheets in the Morgan Library & Museum, New York (1989.60 and 1989.61), formerly attributed to Alberto Alberti. Presented to the Morgan by Janos Scholz, these drawings have more recently been reassigned to the elder Alberti on the basis of comparison with a substantial group of related sheets preserved in the Biblioteca Nazionale, Rome. The attribution is of particular interest given that Alberto's sons, Cherubino Alberti (1553–1615) and Giovanni Alberti (1558–1601), have traditionally received greater scholarly attention. Alberto Alberti was born in Borgo Sansepolcro, an important Tuscan centre situated at the crossroads of Tuscany, the Marches, and Umbria. The Alberti family enjoyed considerable prominence in the sixteenth century, when its workshop expanded and several members established distinguished careers as artists and craftsmen. Alberto was the son of Giovanni di Giuliano di Alberto Alberti, known as Giovanni di Berto or Lito (1483–1553), a painter and sculptor. He subsequently established himself as an architect and military engineer in the service of the Medici, working principally for Cosimo I de' Medici in Florence. In 1563 he moved to Rome, where he continued to work under Medici patronage until his death in 1586. Alberto's activities encompassed a remarkably broad range of disciplines. Although principally associated with woodcarving, he was also active as a painter, draughtsman, military engineer, and cartographer. His extensive diaries and account books, which document some fifty years of the family's activities, constitute an unusually valuable source for the study of the Alberti workshop and its artistic milieu. His versatility is likewise reflected in the surviving drawings attributed to him, which demonstrate an accomplished and methodical approach to the study of architecture, ornament, and figure. Alberto was the father of Alessandro Alberti (1551–1596), Cherubino Alberti, and Giovanni Alberti, each of whom pursued a successful artistic career. The present sheet, considered alongside the related drawings in the Morgan Library and the group in the Biblioteca Nazionale, contributes to the broader understanding of Alberto Alberti's graphic oeuvre and of the artistic activity of the Alberti family in the later sixteenth century. Provenance: With Joanna Booth, London. Purchased from the Nonesuch Gallery, London.

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