id: 130937 accession number: 1953.626 share license status: CC0 url: https://clevelandart.org/art/1953.626 updated: 2022-09-10 10:13:19.855000 Allegorical Figure, c. 1635. Bernardo Strozzi (Italian, 1581?-1644). Black chalk with red chalk ; sheet: 37.3 x 26.2 cm (14 11/16 x 10 5/16 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, John L. Severance Fund 1953.626 title: Allegorical Figure title in original language: series: series in original language: creation date: c. 1635 creation date earliest: 1630 creation date latest: 1640 current location: creditline: John L. Severance Fund copyright: --- culture: Italy, 17th century technique: black chalk with red chalk department: Drawings collection: DR - Italian type: Drawing find spot: catalogue raisonne: --- CREATORS * Bernardo Strozzi (Italian, 1581?-1644) - artist --- measurements: Sheet: 37.3 x 26.2 cm (14 11/16 x 10 5/16 in.) state of the work: edition of the work: support materials: description: beige(1) laid paper (discolored) watermarks: inscriptions: inscription: lower left, in brown ink: Prete Genovese; verso, lower center, in brown ink: P.G. r: 35. translation: remark: --- CURRENT EXHIBITIONS title: The Venetian Tradition opening date: 1956-11-08T05:00:00 The Venetian Tradition. The Cleveland Museum of Art (November 8, 1956-January 1, 1957). title: Italian and French Drawings opening date: 1959-10-13T04:00:00 Italian and French Drawings. The Cleveland Museum of Art (organizer) (October 13, 1959-February 2, 1960). title: Drawings opening date: 1963-01-11T05:00:00 Drawings. The Cleveland Museum of Art (organizer) (January 11-September 10, 1963). title: Old Master Drawings opening date: 1964-03-10T05:00:00 Old Master Drawings. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (March 10-30, 1964). title: Art in Italy, 1600-1700 opening date: 1965-04-06T05:00:00 Art in Italy, 1600-1700. The Detroit Institute of Arts, Detroit, MI (organizer) (April 6-May 9, 1965). title: Art in Italy, 1600-1700 opening date: 1965-04-06T05:00:00 Art in Italy, 1600-1700. The Detroit Institute of Arts, Detroit, MI (organizer) (April 6-May 9, 1965). title: Old Master Prints and Drawings opening date: 1966-07-29T04:00:00 Old Master Prints and Drawings. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (July 29, 1966-April 1, 1967). title: Prints and Drawings from the Museum Collection opening date: 1967-03-29T05:00:00 Prints and Drawings from the Museum Collection. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (March 29-June 6, 1967). title: Drawings from the Museum Collection opening date: 1967-06-09T04:00:00 Drawings from the Museum Collection. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (June 9, 1967-January 1, 1968). title: Bernardo Strozzi: Paintings and Drawings opening date: 1967-10-08T04:00:00 Bernardo Strozzi: Paintings and Drawings. University Art Museum, Binghamton, NY (organizer) (October 8-November 5, 1967). title: Italian Prints and Drawings opening date: 1968-01-30T05:00:00 Italian Prints and Drawings. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (January 30-March 26, 1968). title: Drawings opening date: 1968-06-11T04:00:00 Drawings. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (June 11-October 21, 1968). title: Old Master Drawings from American Collections opening date: 1976-04-29T04:00:00 Old Master Drawings from American Collections. Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, CA (organizer) (April 29-June 13, 1976). title: Idea to Image: Preparatory Studies from the Renaissance to Impressionism opening date: 1980-02-19T05:00:00 Idea to Image: Preparatory Studies from the Renaissance to Impressionism. The Cleveland Museum of Art (organizer) (February 19-March 23, 1980). title: Connoisseurship in Italian Figural Compositions opening date: 1980-10-21T04:00:00 Connoisseurship in Italian Figural Compositions. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (October 21, 1980-February 15, 1981). title: Italian Drawings from the Permanent Collection opening date: 1986-12-15T05:00:00 Italian Drawings from the Permanent Collection. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (December 15, 1986-March 1, 1987). title: Concept, Dogma and Feeling: Italian Drawings 1550-1650 opening date: 1991-08-27T04:00:00 Concept, Dogma and Feeling: Italian Drawings 1550-1650. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (August 27-October 20, 1991). title: Bernardo Strozzi: Genova 1581/82-Venezia 1644 opening date: 1995-05-06T04:00:00 Bernardo Strozzi: Genova 1581/82-Venezia 1644. Palazzo Ducale (Genova), Genova, Italy (May 6-August 6, 1995). title: Master Drawings from the Cleveland Museum of Art opening date: 2000-08-27T00:00:00 Master Drawings from the Cleveland Museum of Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (August 27-October 17, 2000); The Morgan Library & Museum, New York, NY (May 23-August 19, 2001); Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Houston, TX (October 14, 2001-January 6, 2002). --- LEGACY EXHIBITIONS --- PROVENANCE possibly to Strozzi's pupil Ermanno Stroiffi (1616-1693), Venice date: 1644?-ca. 1654 footnotes: citations: "Borghese"-Sagredo collection, Venice (Lugt 2103a, with associated inscription "P.G. no. 35") date: ca. 1654 footnotes: citations: by descent to Zaccaria Sagredo (1653-1729), Venice date: -1729 footnotes: citations: by descent to his nephew, Gherardo Sagredo (died 1738) date: 1729-1738 footnotes: citations: with Hans M. Calmann (1899-1982), London date: 1953 footnotes: citations: The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH date: 1953- footnotes: citations: --- fun fact: Drawings by Bernardo Strozzi are exceedingly scarce, especially full worked-up preparatory drawings such as this study for Minerva. digital description: The Genoese painter Bernardo Strozzi drew this female figure in preparation for one of his major oil paintings, also in the collection of the Cleveland Museum of Art (1929.133). Recent scholarship has convincingly identified the subject as Minerva. The Roman goddess of war has put aside her armor for more contemplative pursuits; her upward gaze—as if seeking inspiration—recalls her other associations with wisdom, eloquence, and the arts. The figure is one of a number of single female figures associated with intellectual and artistic pursuits made by Strozzi in the 1630s when he lived and worked in Venice. Such works appealed to his learned patrons in northern Italy. wall description: Strozzi drew this female figure in preparation for one of his major oil paintings, also owned by the Cleveland museum and currently on view upstairs in the Baroque Art gallery (220). Because of the armor, the subject of this drawing might be Bellona (goddess of war), or Minerva (goddess of wisdom), both of whom are usually shown wearing their armor. The figure may also be Thetis, the mother of the Greek hero Achilles, thanking the god Vulcan for the gift of a suit of armor for her son, or Venus, with the armor of her lover, Mars. --- RELATED WORKS --- CITATIONS Turner, Jane S., ed. The Dictionary of Art, vol. 29. New York: Grove, 1996. page number: Mentioned: p. 784 url: The Cleveland Museum of Art. Venetian Tradition: Catalogue of the Exhibition. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1956. page number: Mentioned: p. 41, n. 76 url: "Accessions of American and Canadian Museums." Art Quarterly 19, no. 3 (Autumn 1956): 302-306. page number: Mentioned: p. 306; Reproduced: p. 304 url: Comstock, Helen. "A Drawing by Bernardo Strozzi." The Connoisseur 138, no. 557 (November 1956): 211-212. page number: Mentioned: pp. 211-212; Reproduced: p. 212 url: Francis, Henry S. "A Drawing for Strozzi's 'Minerva.' " The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 43, no. 6 (June 1956): 123-126. page number: Mentioned: pp. 123-126; Reproduced: p. 124 url: https://www.jstor.org/stable/25142136 The Cleveland Museum of Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art Handbook. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1958. page number: Mentioned and Reproduced: cat. no. 573 url: https://archive.org/details/CMAHandbook1958/page/n107 Cummings, Frederick J., ed. Art in Italy 1600-1700. Detroit, MI: The Detroit Institute of Arts, 1965. page number: Mentioned: pp. 177-178; Reproduced: p. 177, n. 204 url: Mahon, Denis. "Stock-taking in Seicento Studies." Apollo 82, no. 45 (November 1965): 378-391. page number: Mentioned: p. 386; Reproduced: p. 384, n. 8 url: The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1966. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1966. page number: Reproduced: p. 115 url: https://archive.org/details/CMAHandbook1966/page/n139 Mortari, Luisa. Bernardo Strozzi. [Rome]: De Luca, 1966. page number: Mentioned: pp. 61, 99, 219; Reproduced: n. 474 url: Matteucci, Anna Maria. Bernardo Strozzi. Milan: Fratelli Fabbri, 1966. page number: Mentioned: p. 7, n. 4 url: Milkovich, M. Bernardo Strozzi: Paintings and Drawings. Binghamton, NY: University Art Gallery, State University of New York at Binghamton, 1968. page number: Mentioned: pp. 12, 72, 86; Reproduced: p. 87, n. 37 url: The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1969. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1969. page number: Reproduced: p. 115 url: https://archive.org/details/CMAHandbook1969/page/n139 The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1978. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1978. page number: Reproduced: p. 136 url: https://archive.org/details/CMAHandbook1978/page/n156 Meder, Joseph. The Mastery of Drawing, vol. 2. Translated by Winslow Ames. New York: Abaris Books, 1978. page number: Mentioned: p. 302; Reproduced: n. 153 url: Johnson, Mark M. Idea to Image: Preparatory Studies from the Renaissance to Impressionism. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1980. page number: Mentioned: pp. 45-47; Reproduced: p. 46, n. 51 url: Pignatti, Terisio. Disegni antichi del Museo Correr di Venezia: catalogo, vol. 1. Vicenza: Nera Pozzi, 1980. page number: Mentioned: p. 24 url: Lurie, Ann T., ed. European Paintings of the 16th, 17th, and 18th Centuries: The Cleveland Museum of Art Catalogue of Paintings, Part Three. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1982. page number: Mentioned and Reproduced: p. 421, n. 184a url: The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1991. page number: Reproduced: p. 93 url: https://archive.org/details/CMAHandbook1991 Chong, Alan. European & American Painting in the Cleveland Museum of Art: A Summary Catalogue. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1993. page number: Mentioned: p. 229 url: Newcome, Mary. "Oil Sketches and Drawings by Strozzi." antichità viva 32, no. 6 (1993): 14-24. page number: Mentioned: p. 21 url: Gavazza, Ezia, Giovanna Nepi Sciré, and Giovanna Rotondi Terminiello. Bernardo Strozzi: Genova 1581/82-Venezia 1644. Milan: Electa, 1995. page number: Mentioned: pp. 222, 280-281, 304; Reproduced: p. 305 url: Mortari, Luisa. Bernardo Strozzi. Rome: De Luca, 1995. page number: Mentioned: p. 201; Reproduced: p. 223, n. 2 url: DeGrazia, Diane, and Carter E. Foster. Master Drawings from the Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland, OH: Cleveland Museum of Art in association with Rizzoli International Publications: New York, 2000. page number: Mentioned: P. 56; Reproduced: P. 57, cat. no. 18 url: Bober, Jonathan, Piero Boccardo, and Franco Boggero. Superbarocco: arte a Genova da Rubens a Magnasco. Milano : Skira, 2022. page number: Mentioned: p. 292, 297; reproduced: p. 296, no. 82 url: --- IMAGES web: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1953.626/1953.626_web.jpg print: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1953.626/1953.626_print.jpg full: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1953.626/1953.626_full.tif