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Object Timeline
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1980 |
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2015 |
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2021 |
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2022 |
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2025 |
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Drawing, Ornament Design, Roman Altar Dedicated to Mars and Roman Standards
This is a Drawing. It was created by Michel Angelo Pergolesi. It is dated 1776 and we acquired it in 1980. Its medium is pen and ink, brush and watercolor over graphite on laid paper. It is a part of the Drawings, Prints, and Graphic Design department.
Comparison of Pergolesi’s watercolor drawings with the black-and-white illustrations upon which they are based reveals the artist’s remarkable skill with color. His lively palette favors candy tones of green, pink, purple, and blue combined in surprising and delightful ways. Pergolesi created three differently colored versions of this design, each depicting a side of the Roman altar that appears in the encyclopedia in the case at left. Here he has faithfully copied the entire ancient object, while in other watercolors he reproduces only a single small detail.
It is credited Gift of Unknown Donor.
Its dimensions are
Mount: 71.8 × 50.8 cm (28 1/4 in. × 20 in.) Sheet: 48.3 × 34.3 cm (19 in. × 13 1/2 in.) Center Design Motif: 24.4 × 10.5 cm (9 5/8 × 4 1/8 in.) Left Design Motif: 38.4 × 5.3 cm (15 1/8 × 2 1/8 in.)
It is signed
Below central element, signed in light red ink: Pergolesi 1776 Del et pinx.
Cite this object as
Drawing, Ornament Design, Roman Altar Dedicated to Mars and Roman Standards; Michel Angelo Pergolesi (Italian, active ca. 1760–1801); pen and ink, brush and watercolor over graphite on laid paper; Mount: 71.8 × 50.8 cm (28 1/4 in. × 20 in.) Sheet: 48.3 × 34.3 cm (19 in. × 13 1/2 in.) Center Design Motif: 24.4 × 10.5 cm (9 5/8 × 4 1/8 in.) Left Design Motif: 38.4 × 5.3 cm (15 1/8 × 2 1/8 in.); Gift of Unknown Donor; 1980-32-1439
This object was previously on display as a part of the exhibition Mr. Pergolesi's Curious Things.
