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Image

A pen and ink drawing of a smiling, bewigged French knight. In uniform, he stands facing left, one arm holding a tri-corner hat, the other held up in greeting.
  • A pen and ink drawing of a smiling, bewigged French knight. In uniform, he stands facing left, one arm holding a tri-corner hat, the other held up in greeting.

Pier Leone Ghezzi

Le Chevalier de La Motte

Description

Maker

Pier Leone Ghezzi (Italian, 1674-1755)

Title

Le Chevalier de La Motte

Year

ca. 1725-1730

Medium

  • Pen and ink and chalk on laid paper

Materials/Techniques

Techniques

  • Pen and ink and chalk on laid paper

Materials

pen

Supports

  • paper

Dimensions

30 x 20 cm (11 13/16 x 7 7/8 inches)

Signature / Inscription / Marks

Inscribed in contemporary hand in brown ink on slip of paper attached to mount: "M. le Ch. deLamothe"; on verso in contemporary hand in brown ink: "M. le Ch. deLamothe"; numbered in brown ink at upper right hand corner of mount: "18".

Watermark: Crown with the letter P in a circle

Credit / Object Number

Credit

Gift of Janos Scholz

Object Number

52.128

Type

  • Drawings and Watercolors

Provenance

… - 1867, Possibly in the collection of Rev. Edward H. AE. Goddard, M.A., Vicar of Eartham, Sussex. According to Mr. Janos Scholz.

1867, Possible sale Sotheby 's on 03/07/1867.

… Collection of Dr. Max A. Goldstein, St. Louis, MO. According to Mr. Janos Scholz.

… Purchased by Mr. Janos Scholz from Dr. Max A. Goldstein.

… 1952, Gift to the RISD Museum from Mr. Janos Scholz on 05/06/1952.

Projects & Publications

Publications

  • Books

Old Master Drawings from the Museum of Art, Rhode Island School of Design

Alt Author: Johnson, Deborah J.

Exhibition History

Exhibition History

Drawing Closer
Four Hundred Years of Drawing from the RISD Museum
Mar 12, 2022 – Sep 04, 2022

Label copy

A man wearing a wig and a military uniform holds a tricorn hat, raising his knobby right hand in greeting. His sloped forehead ends in a comically large pointed nose, its gaping, flared nostrils adding to the grotesque effect of his fleshy face. Pier Leone Ghezzi was a prolific caricaturist who drew thousands of “charged portraits” of the upper echelons of Rome’s cosmopolitan society. While the identity of this French military man is not known, his likeness fits a common formula in Ghezzi’s drawings, with figures shown full length, often with beak-like noses and protruding lips.

Old Master Drawings
Sep 02, 1983 – Oct 16, 1983
Italian Art in Celebration of Rhode Island’s Italian Festival; Seven Centuries of Italian Art
CRIA Benefit Exhibition
Apr 12, 1967 – May 21, 1967
Italian Drawings from the Museum's Collection
Mar 17, 1961 – Apr 16, 1961
Italian Drawings of the 16th Century--18th Century, Recently Acquired
Oct 22, 1952 – Jan 06, 1953

Use & Feedback

Image use

The images on this website can enable discovery and collaboration and support new scholarship, and we encourage their use.

This object is in the Public Domain and available under a CC0 1.0 Universal (CC0 1.0) Public Domain Dedication

Tombstone

Pier Leone Ghezzi (Italian, 1674-1755)
Le Chevalier de La Motte, ca. 1725-1730
Pen and ink and chalk on laid paper
30 x 20 cm (11 13/16 x 7 7/8 inches)
Gift of Janos Scholz 52.128

To request new photography, please send an email to imagerequest@risd.edu and include your name and the object's accession number.

Feedback

We view our online collection as a living documents, and our records are frequently revised and enhanced. If you have additional information or have spotted an error, please send feedback to curatorial@risd.edu.

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