Hagar and Ishmael Visited by the Angel

Possibly Paul Lefort, Paris; Da Zotto, Venice (according to Janos Scholz, who identified this provenance based on the heavy black border mount); Frank Jewett Mather Jr.

formerly attributed to Francisco de Herrera the Younger, called "El Mozo", Spanish, 1627–1685
formerly attributed to Italian, Venetian
formerly attributed to Giovanni Battista, Younger Pittoni, Italian, 1687–1767
formerly attributed to Anonymous
 

This drawing was long considered to be Venetian, and was catalogued as such by Felton Gibbons in his Catalogue of Italian Drawings in The Art Museum, Princeton University, (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1977, v.1, p. 256). Gibbons noted in 1976 that the drawing had been considered to be by the hand of Giovanni Battista Pittoni, the younger (1687-1767), but that Terisio Pignatti had suggested an attribution to Gaspare Diziani (1689-1767) at that time. Prior to museum accession, the drawing was attributed as Anonymous in Collection de M. Paul Lefort: dessins anciens, principalement de L'Ecole Espagnole, eaux-fortes et lithographies de Goya, (Paris: Blaisot, 1869, p. 12), however there is some argument as to whether or not these are the same sheets. The angel's pose in the drawing resembles that of Saint Hermengild for the Carmelites of San Hermenegild in Madrid (Museo del Prado, Madrid inv. no. P00833) by Francisco de Herrera the Younger (1627-1685), which may account for the former attribution found on the museum's accession card. Yet, in style, the drawing resembles both the rapid pen and ink drawings attributed to Pedro Atanasio Bocanerga (1638-1689) and drawings attributed to Jiménez Donoso (ca.1632-1690)...in composition, however, Princeton's sheet has more in common with work attributed to Donoso leading Lisa A. Banner to place the attribution as a follower of José Jiménez Donoso in her 2012 catalogue, Spanish Drawings in the Princeton University Art Museum, (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Art Museum, 2012, pp. 39-40).

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