Allegory of Charles III
Ca. 1760. Grey-brown wash, Black chalk, Pencil on white paper.Not on display
A preparatory sketch for the frontispiece of Paolo Antonio Paoli’s book on the classical ruins of Paestum, which was dedicated to Charles III. Although it was published in 1784, the texts and prints had been prepared some time before by count Felice Gazzola, an amateur archaeologist. The bust of Charles III, shown in the guise of a Roman emperor, is placed by the genius of Fame on a pedestal surrounded by the attributes of the Fine Arts.