RC
Giorgio Telié (18th century)
Portrait of Giovanni Battista Piranesi
Black chalk, charcoal, with white highlights on brown paper
445x320mm
Watermark: unreadable
Signed, Giorgio Telie', pen and iron-gall ink
Provenance: private collection, Vienna
Iconographically this drawing relates to the portrait of Piranesi (Fig.1) etched by Francesco Felice Polanzani (c.1700-?) in 1750 and originally used as frontispiece to Piranesi's "Opere Varie" (1750) and "Antichita' Romane" (1756). Despite a fairly different composition, Polanzani's etching and our drawing represent Piranesi, architect, with a similar engaging expression.
