Mercury and Argos 1991 Pen and brown ink, brown wash, over black chalk. Inscribed in pen and brown ink on the verso, 'Orig di Carlo Marati n 353.,' and numbered 'R 33-2d'. 210 x 259 mm. (81⁄4 x 101⁄4 inches). Provenance: Pseudo-Crozat (Lugt 474); Christie's Sale, London, 4 July 1972, lot 68 illus.; Herbert List (his dry stamp lower right); Stiftung Wolfgang Ratjen, Vaduz (inv. R 662). Literature: R. Cocke, 'The Drawings of Michele and Giovanni Battista Pace', in Master Drawings, vol. XXIX, no. 4, 1991, p.381, no.23, fig.22.		GIROLAMA TROPPA Rocchette in Sabina 1630 ~ after 1710 Rome Our drawing has been universally accepted as late 17th century Roman and as by a close follower of Pier Francesco Mola. In 1991 it was firmly attributed to Giovanni Battista Pace by Richard Cocke. However, further research on the style of this hand has finally led to a new attribution, the Roman artist Girolamo Troppa. We know that Troppa was in Rome by 1656. Initially, as a painter, he was stylistically close to Giacinto Brandi, an admirer of Mola and then, in the 1770s, worked with Giovanni Battista Gaulli called Il Baciccio. For example, they worked side by side in the Church of Santa Marta, Rome, where Troppa was responsible for the the ceiling decoration (1671-2).1 His activity as a draughtsman has only recently received attention. In 1989 Vittorio Casale found a drawing at Düsseldorf inscribed 'Troppa'. This inscription has since been accepted as his signature, as it consistently appears on other pen and ink drawings in the same style.2 All these drawings bear a certain resemblance to those of Gaulli but are less linear, less gentle. The pen strokes are nervous and irregular and the brushwork is vigorously devoted to defining areas of light and shade. These pen and ink drawings can be favourably compared to our sheet and differ from those of Pace in their carefully organized composition and precise definition of depth of field. A good comparison in this instance is Pace's drawing, Joseph's Dream, in the Sammlung der Kunstakademie at Düsseldorf.3 There are several such compositional studies, given to Troppa, in other German museums including the Berlin Kupferstichkabinet. The Berlin sheet which concerns us here, is one of three from the Cavaceppi and Pacetti collection. On the recto there are four studies of which three are squared for transfer.4 Of these, the two on the right hand side of the sheet are squared in red chalk and are clearly preparatory for two paintings, once in the Danish royal collection and today in the Statens Museum for Kunst, Copenhagen.5 These are Apollo and Marsyas and Mercury and Argos. In this study for Mercury and Argos, lower right, the latter is shown leaning back and the distant view is to his left. However, in the final picture Argos is placed to the right of Mercury, with Io and the rest of the herd in the distance to his right. Our sheet shows stylistic and compositional elements comparable to both the Berlin sketch and the painting. Therefore, we can speculate that our drawing, with its remarkable painterly quality, may have been an alternative idea for the Copenhagen painting. Pen sketches followed by drawings with very generous wash were typical of these Mola followers and particularly Gaulli.6 1. Marilyn Dunn, 'Nuns as Art Patrons: The Decoration of S. Marta al Collegio Roman', The Art Bulletin, September 1988, pp.465-467 & figs.12, 13 & 14. I am very grateful to Erich Schleier for pointing this out. 2. Erich Schleier, 'Disegni di Girolamo Troppa nelle Collezioni Tedesche e Altrove' in Antichita viva, nr. 6, 1990, p.23 and Suzanne Boorsch and John Marciari, Master Drawings from the Yale University Art Gallery, exh.cat., Yale University Press, 2006, cat. no. 53, p.164. 3. Sonja Brink, 'Giovanni Battista Pace-sein Werk wachst!' in Mola und seine Zeitgenossen, Romische Zeichnungen aus der Sammlung der Kunstakademie im museum kunst palast Dusseldorf, 2007, fig.14,p.30. 4. E. Schleier, op.cit., p.24. 5. I am extremely grateful to Simonetta Prosperi Valenti Rodinò, Ursula Fischer Pace and Erich Schleier for giving me considerable assistance with this drawing. 6. I also wish to warmly thank Aden Weston Lewis, Nicholas Turner, Sonja Brink, Ann Sutherland Harris, Dieter Graf, Mario Epifani and Frank Dabell for pointing me in the right direction.