Lot 20: Giulio Parigi , 1570 - 1635 Florence jason and the argonauts directed by minerva Pen and brown ink over black chalk; inscribed in brown ink on the lower margin: REALE 'DELL ARMATA DI ARGONUTI CON DA MINERUES ; and beside two figures: Giasone and

Pen and brown ink over black chalk; inscribed in brown ink on the lower margin: REALE 'DELL ARMATA DI ARGONUTI CON DA MINERUES ; and beside two figures: Giasone and Minerues and numbered in a cartouche in the top left corner: 4

measurements note 135 by 190mm

Alfred Normand (L.153c);
sale, Paris, Drouot (Piasa), 13 June 2001, lot 26; purchased at the sale

The barge recorded in this drawing formed part of the elaborate festivities held on the River Arno in Florence, on the evening of 3 November 1608, as the culmination of the celebrations surrounding the marriage of the Grand Duke Cosimo II de'Medici and the Archduchess Maria Magdalena of Austria. The subject of the pageant was the water battle between the Argonauts and the King of Colchis. Cosimo himself played Jason, seated here in regal armor, with Minerva behind him as his guide. During the course of the festivities, Parigi and other artists made drawings of many of the ships involved. A set of 19 prints after these drawings is known, etched, in reverse, by Remigio Cantagallina after Parigi (16), Lodovico Cigoli (2) and Jacopo Ligozzi (1). Thirteen of Parigi's drawings were sold London, Sotheby's, 5 July 1976, lots 33-38 and another was sold London, Christie's, 6 July 1999, lot 117. Like this one, all those drawings were numbered in a cartouche and inscribed with both the names of the figures, and a title. Five more preparatory drawings -- smaller, freer and in the same direction as the prints -- were sold, New York, Sotheby's, 16 January 1986, lot 37. For a full discussion of the celebrations and of the related print series, see Arthur R. Blumenthal, Theater Art of the Medici, exhibition catalogue, Hanover, New Hampshire, Dartmouth College Museum, 1980, pp. 57-86, where there is a delightful description of the splendor of Cosimo's boat. The print after this drawing (Bartsch 26) is in reverse, with some small differences in the number of the figures, and with a longer descriptive title.