[Italian Portraits]
CAMPAGNA, Giovanni (active c. 1616-1633).
Two Portraits of Fabio Orsino Signore Lamentana / Roberto Orsino Conte di Tagliacozzo.
Pen and brown ink, heightened with white, on green prepared paper.c. 1620.
7" x 7" sheet each (portrait of Fabio Orsini on two joned sheets).

PROVENANCE: Cassiano dal Pozzo at the Museum Chartaceum (Paper Museum) in Rome; Christie s, London: July 15, 2020 where acquired by Graham Arader (present owner) as lot 114.



Set of two portraits of Fabio Orsini, Lord of Mentana (1476-1504) and Roberto Orsini, Count of Tagliacozzo (1419?-1479) in profile and semi profile respectively. The son of an Italian condottiere, Fabio pursued a military career from a very young age, joining the papal forces after his marriage to Jeronima Borgia. He sided with Cesare Borgia, but compromised his alliance with the famous mercenary after rescuing a friend and political enemy from the prison at Tor di Nona. Fabio was killed during the Battle of Garigliano in 1504. Roberto Orsini was a commander of the papal cavalry who reinforced the Aragonese army in several key battles during the pontificate of Pius II. He died of the plague in Montepulciano in 1479 and was buried at the Chiesa di Monte Oliveto in Siena. Formerly attributed to Bernardo Capitelli, the present drawings are more likely the work of the elusive Giovanna Campagna who participated in excavations in Rome and had direct knowledge of the Orsini collection. Campagna is the author of a eulogical family history of the Orsini clan ( Elogii di cento e più personaggi illustri di casa Orsina scritte da Gio. Campagnia con li ritratti disegniati da lui ) preserved at the Archivio Storico Capitolino which identifies the portraits as models for (unpublished) engravings. The narrative of the first book ends around 1460-70 and the drawings were likely made for an unfinished second book. Surviving drawings include the portraits of Ferrante and Francesco Orsino (Courtauld Galleries; inv. D.1984.AB.28 and D.1965.XX.3), Napoleone Orsini (J. Paul Getty Museum; inv. 93.GA.64), Giovanni Antonio Orsini (Princeton University Art Museum; inv. x1951-44), Carlo and Giordano Orsini (Christie s New York, 23 January 2001, lot 25; cf. listed provenance incl. Pope Clement XI Albani and Cardinal Alessandro Albani), and Orso Orsini (Christie's Paris, 22 March 2007, lot 6) sharing technical, stylistic, and iconographic properties: They are characterized by a similar decorative border, composed of spirals, vegetal swirls, and the Orsini rose with five petals. This border always includes four plates: in the bottom plate, a personal motto is usually inserted; those above and at the sides generally feature elements connected to the sitter s profession and biography, such as weapons and flags for the Orsini condottieri. In addition, some of the drawings were prepared using the same procedure, namely, with the portraits realized separately from the decorative borders, with the intention of assembling them at a later stage (Furlotti 2013). The present portrait of Fabio Orsini was assembled thus and neither cartouche bears a motto.

LITERATURE: N. Turner, European Drawings: 4, p. 26, under no. 10 (erroneously ascribed to the Sienese Bernardo Capitelli); B. Furlotti, New Considerations on a Set of Drawings of the Orsini Family by Giovanni Campagna, in: Getty Research Journal, 5 (2013), pp. 15-28.

Condition: very good with partial, light abrasion and scattered foxing.