id: 133799 accession number: 1956.40 share license status: CC0 url: https://clevelandart.org/art/1956.40 updated: 2023-05-19 11:03:06.901000 A Lady with Three Suitors, c. 1500. France, 16th century. Pen and brown ink, brush and brown wash, with traces of black chalk; sheet: 23 x 19.3 cm (9 1/16 x 7 5/8 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, John L. Severance Fund 1956.40 title: A Lady with Three Suitors title in original language: series: series in original language: creation date: c. 1500 creation date earliest: 1495 creation date latest: 1505 current location: creditline: John L. Severance Fund copyright: --- culture: France, 16th century technique: pen and brown ink, brush and brown wash, with traces of black chalk department: Drawings collection: DR - French type: Drawing find spot: catalogue raisonne: --- CREATORS --- measurements: Sheet: 23 x 19.3 cm (9 1/16 x 7 5/8 in.) state of the work: edition of the work: support materials: description: cream(3) laid paper watermarks: * Wheel, similar to Briquet, 1923, no. 13389 inscriptions: inscription: upper center, in brown ink: Celuy mamour conquestera / qui deca ce laß passera / Sanß lempirer ne desnouer / sanß dessuß ne dessoubz passez translation: remark: --- CURRENT EXHIBITIONS title: Department of Prints and Drawings Opening Exhibition opening date: 1958-03-03T05:00:00 Department of Prints and Drawings Opening Exhibition. The Cleveland Museum of Art (organizer) (March 3, 1958-October 11, 1959). title: Drawings from the Museum Collection: 15th-17th Centuries opening date: 1960-05-18T04:00:00 Drawings from the Museum Collection: 15th-17th Centuries. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (May 18-October 11, 1960). title: Drawings opening date: 1963-01-11T05:00:00 Drawings. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (January 11-September 10, 1963). title: Prints and Drawings from the Cleveland Museum of Art Collection opening date: 1965-05-06T04:00:00 Prints and Drawings from the Cleveland Museum of Art Collection. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (May 6-September 9, 1965). title: Treasures of Medieval France opening date: 1966-11-16T05:00:00 Treasures of Medieval France. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (November 16, 1966-January 29, 1967). title: The Waning Middle Ages opening date: 1969-11-01T05:00:00 The Waning Middle Ages. Spencer Museum of Art, Lawrence, KS (organizer) (November 1-December 1, 1969). title: Images of Love and Death in Late Medieval and Renaissance Art opening date: 1976-10-23T04:00:00 Images of Love and Death in Late Medieval and Renaissance Art. University of Michigan Museum of Art, Ann Arbor, MI (organizer) (October 23-January 22, 1976). title: Northern European Drawings from the Cleveland Museum of Art opening date: 1982-11-16T05:00:00 Northern European Drawings from the Cleveland Museum of Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (November 16, 1982-January 9, 1983). title: Treasures on Paper opening date: 1988-05-10T04:00:00 Treasures on Paper. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (May 10-July 24, 1988). title: French Drawings from the Collection opening date: 1994-12-13T05:00:00 French Drawings from the Collection. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (December 13, 1994-March 12, 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). title: Love Gardens / Forbidden Fruit opening date: 2023-07-02T04:00:00 Love Gardens / Forbidden Fruit. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (July 2-October 29, 2023). --- LEGACY EXHIBITIONS --- PROVENANCE Antonio Badile II [1424-1507], Verona date: ?-probably by 1507 footnotes: *
According to Byam Shaw 1983, 214 n. 1.
citations: Ludovico Moscardo, Verona, by descent to Teresa Moscardo date: ?-? footnotes: *
The Moscardo provenance given here was proposed by Evelyn Karet in "Stefano da Verona, Felice Feliciano, and the First Renaissance Collection of Drawings," Arte Lombarda 124 (1998), 31-52. The traditional provenance of drawings from the Moscardo collection includes the Marquis of Calzolari as one of the former owners (first proposed by Frits Lugt, Lugt supplement 1171b), but according to Coner Fahy (Printing a Book at Verona: The Account Book of Francesco Calzolari Junior [Paris, 1993]), that is incorrect.
citations: Teresa Moscardo [1747-?], Verona, by descent to last Moscardo heir, Count Mario Miniscalchi-Brizzo date: ?-? footnotes: citations: Count Mario Miniscalchi-Erizzo [1881-1957], Verona, sold to private collection date: ?-around 1905 footnotes: citations: Private collection, by descent date: 1905-? footnotes: citations: Luigi Grassi [1858-1937], Florence date: ?-? footnotes: citations: (Francis Matthiesen, London, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH) date: around 1954-1956 footnotes: citations: The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH date: 1956- footnotes: citations: --- fun fact: The simple background and lack of landscape detail in this drawing suggest that the image may have been a model for a tapestry or other textile. digital description: This mysterious drawing shows an encounter between elegantly dressed members of the noble class. The French inscription above the image suggests that the woman is addressing her suitors and makes it clear that they are concerned with the pursuit of love: He who will conquer my love / This [barrier] must overcome / Neither destroying it nor loosening it / Going neither below it nor above. The style of the clothing reflects French court fashions during the reign of Charles VIII (1483–98), and the subject relates to the tradition of late medieval collections of love riddles that involved verbal exchanges between courtly ladies and gentlemen. wall description: This beautiful but mysterious drawing shows an encounter between elegantly dressed members of the noble class. The French inscription above suggests that the woman is addressing her suitors and makes it clear that they are concerned with the pursuit of love: He who will conquer my love / This [barrier] must overcome / Neither destroying it nor loosening it / Going neither below it nor above. The style of the clothing reflects French court fashions during the reign of Charles VIII (1483–98), and the subject relates to the tradition of late medieval collections of love riddles that involved verbal exchanges between courtly ladies and gentlemen. --- RELATED WORKS --- CITATIONS 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. 578 url: https://archive.org/details/CMAHandbook1958/page/n108 "Accessions of American and Canadian Museums, April - June 1958." The Art Quarterly 21, no. 3 (Autumn 1958). page number: Mentioned and reproduced: p. 336 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. 75 url: https://archive.org/details/CMAHandbook1966/page/n99 Wixom, William D. Treasures from Medieval France. Cleveland: Cleveland Museum of Art, 1967. page number: Mentioned: p. 314, no. VII 11; Reproduced: p. 315 url: https://archive.org/details/TreasuresMedievalFrance/page/n341 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. 75 url: https://archive.org/details/CMAHandbook1969/page/n99 Huizinga, Johan. The Waning Middle Ages. Exh. Cat. Lawrence, KS: University of Kansas Museum of Art, 1969. page number: Mentioned: pp. 43-44, no. 38; Reproduced: plate LXVIII url: Levin, William R. Images of Love and Death in Late Medieval and Renaissance Art. Exh. Cat. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Museum of Art, 1975. page number: Mentioned: p. 97, no. 58; Reproduced: plate IX url: 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. 84 url: https://archive.org/details/CMAHandbook1978/page/n104 Byam Shaw, James. The Italian Drawings of the Frits Lugt Collection. Paris: Fondation Custodia, 1983. page number: Mentioned: vol. 1, p. 214 n. 1 url: Muylle, Jan. "Big Fishes Eat Little Fishes by Pieter Bruegel after Hieronymus Bosch (?): A Question of Interpretation." In Le dessin sous-jacent dans la peinture. Edited by Roger van Schoute and Dominique Hollanders-Favart. Louvain: Université catholique de Louvain, 1985. page number: Mentioned: p. 131; Reproduced: plate 48 url: Tortora, Phyllis G. and Keith Eubank. Survey of Historic Costume: A History of Western Dress. 2nd edition. New York: Fairchild Publications, 1994. page number: Mentioned and reproduced: p. 156 url: Backhouse, Janet and Yves Giraud. Pierre Sala: Petit livre d'amour. Lucerne: Faksimile Verlag, 1994. page number: Mentioned and reproduced: pp. 138-139 url: "Drawings on Exhibition." Drawing 16, no. 6 (March - April 1995): 131-133. page number: Mentioned: p. 131 url: Dunbar, Burton L. and Edward J. Olszewski, eds. Drawings in Midwestern Collections: Volume I, Early Works. Columbia, MO: University of Missouri Press, 1996. page number: Mentioned and reproduced: pp. 117-119, no. 22 url: DeGrazia, Diane, and Carter E. Foster. Master Drawings from the Cleveland Museum of Art. Exh. Cat. Cleveland: Cleveland Museum of Art, 2000. page number: Mentioned: pp. 90-91, p. 287, no. 32; Reproduced: p. 91 url: Karet, Evelyn and Peter Windows. "The Antonio II Badile Album of Drawings: A Reconstruction of an Early Sixteenth Century Collection." Arte Lombarda 145, no. 3 (2005): 23-56. page number: Mentioned: pp. 26, pp. 37-38, no. 12v [47]; Reproduced: p. 37, no. 29 url: Karet, Evelyn. The Antonio II Badile Album of Drawings: The Origins of Collecting Drawings in Early Modern Northern Italy. Farnham, Surrey: Ashgate, 2014. page number: Reproduced: p. 95; mentioned: p. 96, fig. 3.31 url: --- IMAGES web: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1956.40/1956.40_web.jpg print: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1956.40/1956.40_print.jpg full: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1956.40/1956.40_full.tif