D2412

Unità di misura: mm; Altezza: 219; Larghezza: 148

pietra nera

The collection of portraits on cerulean paper by Ottavio Leoni (Rome 1578-1630) preserved in the civic collections of Genoa comprises 50 sheets and is certainly of great importance in terms of quality and chronological variety: these are, in fact, drawings of a high standard of execution, whose creation can be traced throughout the master's career as a portraitist. The range of characters documented in the portraits is also very varied, providing a vivid snapshot of Roman society in the early 17th century. Historical and artistic research and the inscriptions on the sheets (some autographed, others from collectors, sometimes faded and cut) have in some cases made it possible to name the figures “photographed” by Leoni: among the nobles, this is the case of Marquis Paris Pinelli (D2414), Vincenzo Gonzaga, Duke of Mantua (D2440), and Alessandro VII Sforza (1572-1631) Duke of Segni (inv. D2422), son of Federico II Sforza and Beatrice Orsini; or, among the prelates, the young Monsignor Gerolamo Grimaldi (1597-1685), the future cardinal of Trinità dei Monti (inv. D2434). An elegant blue paper passe-partout with a gold border characterises the entire collection, which has an interesting history: some of the sheets, in fact, bound in the city in 1848 by the nobleman Marcello Durazzo, bear the inscription 'Ulisse Aldrovandi 1799', indicating that they previously belonged to the collections of Count Ulisse (1769-1826) of the Aldrovandi Marescotti family of Bologna, a patron, academic, amateur painter, and collector of prints and art books (Priarone 2021). Male and female portraits.