DONATO CRETI AND STUDIO (CREMONA 1671-1749 BOLOGNA)
Five drawings on an album page
a. A mythological female figure (Diana?), looking up to the left
b. A winged putto, flying to the right
c. A winged putto, flying to the left
d. The head of a woman, resting her chin on her hand (Mary Magdalene?)
e. The Head of a Bearded Man

Each pen and brown ink, of circular (a) or oval (b-e) format. Each drawing laid down, within a wash mount with gold lines, on an album page.
The album page inscribed Donato Creti. and, in a modern hand, Cremonese at the bottom. Faintly inscribed [?]ed as one Number at the bottom of the album page. Further inscribed Tutti di Donato Creti di Bologna on the verso.
Each drawing stamped with the collector’s mark of John McGouan (L.1496) on the reverse of the album page.

a. 9.1 x 9.1 cm
b. 5.9 x 7.7 cm
c. 6.2 x 7.8 cm
d. 11.9 x 9 cm
e. 11.5 x 9 cm
The album page: 50.8 x 38.3 cm

PROVENANCE:
John McGouan (or MacGowan), Edinburgh (L.1496), his collector’s mark stamped five times on the reverse of the album page.
His posthumous sale, London, T. Philipe, 26 January – 4 February 1804, lot 190 (as Creti).
Probably acquired at the sale by Sir William Forbes, 7th Bt. of Pitsligo, Colinton House,Greenhill House and Fettercairn House, Kincardineshire.
Thence by descent in the Forbes family at Fettercairn House, Kincardineshire, until 2017.

The top and two bottom drawings on this album page may be fully attributed to Donato Creti, while the two drawings of putti appear to be the work of an artist in his studio or circle. The facial types of the three drawings by Creti are found throughout his oeuvre. In his biography of the artist, Giampietro Zanotti writes that Donato Creti’s drawings were highly regarded by his contemporaries. Landscapes, figure studies and portraits make up the bulk of Creti’s drawings, many of which, according to Zanotti, were given away as presents by the artist.

The attribution of the three drawings by Creti on this album page has been confirmed by Marco Riccòmini, who suggests that the circular drawing at the top may have been part of a larger composition. Two similar album pages, each containing seven small drawings by or attributed to Creti, were once in the collection of the 18th century painter Sir Joshua Reynolds (1723-1792).