Group of Eleven Acrobats

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Specifications

Title	Group of Eleven Acrobats
Material and technique	Pen and brush and brown and green-blue ink, heightened with white
Object type	Drawing > Two-dimensional object > Art object
Location	This object is in storage

Dimensions	Height 388 mm Width 261 mm
Artists	Draughtsman: Anoniem
Accession number	I 4 (PK)
Credits	Loan Stichting Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen (former Koenigs collection), 1940
Department	Drawings & Prints
Acquisition date	1940
Creation date	in circa 1575-1650
Watermark	Letter F or Latin cross (?) on three hills in a shield, 62 x 38 mm, on P4 van 8P, vH, cropped folio sheet, left of the center, viewed with IRP (transmittent light), possibly somewhat reminiscent of type Briquet 11938-39 ((Lucca 1582, Rome 1591, Ferrara 1598, variations until c. 1650 in Fabriano/Rome); no similar types in Piccard Online.
Inscriptions	'7.' (verso, centre, pen and brown ink)
Collector	Collector / Franz Koenigs
Mark	F.W. Koenigs (L.1023a) deest
Provenance	Franz W. Koenigs (1881-1941, L.1023a), Haarlem, acquired in 1920-1930 (Florentine, c. 1450); D.G. van Beuningen (1877-1955), Rotterdam, acquired with the Koenigs Collection in 1940 and donated to Stichting Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen
Research	Show research Italian Drawings 1400-1600
Material	Pen > Artist's material > Material > Material and technique Paintbrush > Artist's material > Material > Material and technique Blue ink > Ink > Artist's material > Material > Material and technique Brown ink > Ink > Artist's material > Material > Material and technique
Object	Drawing > Two-dimensional object > Art object
Technique	Highlight > Painting technique > Technique > Material and technique
Geographical origin	Italy > Southern Europe > Europe
Place of manufacture	Florence > Tuscany > Italy > Southern Europe > Europe

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Entry catalogue Italian Drawings 1400-1600

Author: Klazina Botke

Helmut Lütjens described this sheet as an anonymous Florentine work and dated it to around 1450.^[1]The watermark, however, places it much later, around 1575-1650. That dating also has to be treated with caution, given that the mark is difficult to make out as a result of oxidation from the white highlights.The drawing is also in poor condition. The brown ink has faded and there are many rust-coloured stains. As a result, the scene of eleven men forming a human pyramid is no longer clearly visible. Only the blue ink and the white highlights for the tight-fitting clothing of the acrobats stand out. The figures are a little easier to see under ultraviolet light, which reveals that some of them are female and that the acrobats form a central pyramid with two adjacent towers.

It seems logical to make a with the famous print series of c.1534 by the Italian artist Juste de Juste (c.1505-c.1559) is only logical, since both works depict figures performing gymnastic feats.^[2]But whereas De Juste used the subject to display his artistic skill in rendering exaggerated anatomies and showing nude bodies performing fantastic bends and twists, the emphasis in the Rotterdam drawing is on the precise depiction of the pyramid itself. It is therefore possible that the artist recorded a specific event. Living pyramids were often staged in Italy during major festivals like the Venice Carnival and celebrations at the Medici court in Florence. These latter celebrations were immortalized in a print by Stefano della Bella (1610-1664).^[3]The entertaining nature of the human pyramid also made it suitable for more decorative scenes. The best-known examples are the frescoes by Cesare Baglione (c.1550-1615) in the Salone dei Giocolieri (Jugglers’ Hall) in Castello di Torrechiara in Langhirano.