Lot 35: Pio Panfili (Italian/Bologna, 1732-1812)

Pio Panfili (Italian/Bologna, 1732-1812), "Quarter Design for a Quadratura Ceiling" (recto), with architectural sketches (verso), c. 1755, ink and bistre wash on buff paper, unsigned (but numbered "90A in circle and "IV" en verso), 9 3/8 in. x 15 3/8 in., in a modern mount (numbered R91A) Provenance: Art Market, Great Britain; James R. Lamantia, Jr., New Orleans and New York. Note: This exuberant design for an illustionistic architectural perspecctive "al di sotto in sù" (from below looking up) is a brilliant product of Panfili's training in the 1740s at the Accademia Clementine in Bologna, under Petronio della Volpe. In the 1750s he apparently collaborated with Alfonso Torreggiani (1682-1764) in the decoration of a monastery at Rimini, and further worked at Palazzo Comunale in his native Fermo; Panfili was also a noted printmaker. spciealizing in views of Bologna. He developed this classic Bolognese manner form a series of pioneer compatriots: Girolamo Curit )1575-1632), who first established the techinque of ceiling decoration in Bologna; Agostinio Mitelli (1609-1660), whose many drawings at the Kunstbibliothek, Berlin, are direct precursors of this splendid sheet; a little-known Bolognese quadratista draftsman...