This is the fellow from Padua...
Venetian artist, active in first quarter of the 18th century.
Red chalk over brown pen and ink. Size of sheet: 22.4 x 32.4 cm.
Fragment of watermark.
Numbers for calculation in the brown ink verso and recto: Questo sè el Padoanel che Al fin redotto al Capezal con le tanaglie è zonto
Together with another drawing by the same hand depicting the same man looking with a torch under the bed. Red chalk. Size of sheet: 22.4 x 32.4 cm. Verso: small study of a figure in brown ink.
A man lying in bed, covert by a blanket holding a chair on which pieces of cheese are piled up on the seat. A mouse wearing a hat is standing and waving a flag, while another one is climbing up the chair. The inscription is written in venetian dialect and translates: This is the fellow from Padua who has reached the end, reduced to the bed with pliers (or: … who reduced to the end, has arrived at the bed with the pliers).
£ 2600.-