Study of a Shield

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Drawing details

Title: Study of a Shield
Date: c.1872-73
Media: Silverpoint on paper
Dimensions: 12.3 x 7.2 cm
Location: Fogg Art Museum, Harvard University
Picture credit: Courtesy of the Fogg Art Museum, Harvard University Art Museums, Friends of the Fogg Art Museum Fund
Reference number: 1946.35.9
Inscriptions: Inscribed "Gold on blue / Bargello" in silverpoint, in the artist's hand.

Interpretation

The National Museum of the Bargello in Florence has a collection of arms. Leighton also made studies of sculpture at the museum (see Leighton House drawings, reference numbers [check]) I forwarded the image of this page to Maria Grazia Vaccari at the museum, and received the following response: The drawing you have sent relates to a shield displayed in The Bargello Museum. It is a wooden shield covered with fish skin and decorated with crosses and ears of wheat. The shield is described as "Targone di casa Del Pannocchia-Riccomanni, Toscana, fine sec. XIV-XV.

Description

Page from a sketchbook. Study of a shield with a design of ears of wheat in pairs, and crosses. Studies of details of ears of wheat and a cross. 

Provenance

Purchased by the Fogg Art Museum, Harvard University, from Geoffrey Steele (antiquarian bookseller, c.1907-2000) from his bookshop at RFD 1, Mahopac, New York, in 1946 for $6.00.