Drawing depicting a man riding a swan: costum design for a french court tournament or masquerade. "this enigmatic design may have some connection with the family of cleves, which originated in kleef in the rhineland and whose early history was linked with the legend of the knight of the swan. The box tied to the swan's neck and to which the bird's beak is turned perhaps contains the challenge to a tournament thus delivered to the chief of the fete. It is evident that the swan's legs are in fact those of the wearer of the costume, while the legs attached to the bird's wings are false. The paper is the same as one of the sheets in the late series of masquerade drawings by primaticcio but the drawing has little affinity with the others in the series. Bean is critical: "the dry, awkward execution suggests a record drawing by an assistant, rather than a costume design by primaticcio", and sylvie beguin regards it as a work by nicolò dell'abbate" (per bjurström, "french drawings: sixteenth and seventeenth centuries", volume 1 ("drawings in swedish public collections"), liberförlag, 1976, p. 96, no 72). Date: 16th century. Dimensions: Dimensions: (h x b) 28 x 22 cm; Passepartout: (h x b) 55 x 42 cm; Frame: (h x b x dj) 59 x 46 x 4 cm. Medium: drawing, ink, pen, watercolours. Collection: Nationalmuseum. PRIMATICCIO-The Knight of the Swan
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