Collection of Cassiano Dal Pozzo (1588-1657)
Common dolphin c. 1630-40
Watercolour and bodycolour and some silver paint over black chalk | 33.8 x 53.8 cm (sheet of paper) | RCIN 928735
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Dolphins were a common sight in Italian coastal waters and would have been classified as fish (rather than mammals) in Cassiano’s time. This drawing was seen by the English naturalist Phillip Skippon during his visit to the Dal Pozzo household in 1662: ‘a dolphin brought to the fishmarket in Rome, having one fin on the middle of the back, a pair of fins under the gills, a longish snout, wide mouth, a forked tail, and well armed with sharp teeth’.
Provenance
Commissioned by Cassiano dal Pozzo; from whose heirs purchased by Pope Clement XI, 1703; his nephew, Cardinal Alessandro Albani, 1721; from whom bought by George III, 1762 and thence by descent to King George V (dispersed from Royal Library between the two World Wars); London art market (most via dealer Jacob Mendelson); James R. Herbert Boone (American collector); bequeathed to Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore in 1983; Sotheby's New York, 16 September 1988; Queen Elizabeth II
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Creator(s)
Acquirer(s)
Commissioner(s)
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Medium and techniques
Watercolour and bodycolour and some silver paint over black chalk
Measurements
33.8 x 53.8 cm (sheet of paper)
Object type(s)
Other number(s)
RL 28735
