Currently not on view
Apelles Painting Campaspe in the Presence of Alexander the Great,
1785–90
Domenico Mondo, Italian, 1723–1806
2006-49
With its syncopated contours and loose brushwork, this chromatic sheet exemplifies the draftsmanship of the Neapolitan painter Domenico Mondo. Not related to a known project, the drawing depicts an episode from Pliny the Elder’s Natural History: the painter Apelles was asked by Alexander the Great to paint his mistress, Campaspe; in so doing, Apelles fell in love with his model. Alexander gave Campaspe to Apelles, thereby rewarding Apelles’s talent and acknowledging his superiority as a judge of beauty. In Mondo’s interpretation of this subject, Apelles sketches the object of his affection into being with a pen-like brush, creating a virtual drawing within the actual one.
Information
Title
Apelles Painting Campaspe in the Presence of Alexander the Great
Dates
1785–90
Maker
Medium
Pen and brown ink with colored washes and gouache, over traces of red chalk, on ivory laid paper
Dimensions
18.8 x 28.1 cm (7 3/8 x 11 1/16 in.)
frame: 41 x 53.3 x 3 cm (16 1/8 x 21 x 1 3/16 in.)
Credit Line
Museum purchase, Felton Gibbons Fund
Object Number
2006-49
Culture
Type
Materials
Subject
Sale, Piasa, Paris, June 19, 2003, lot 38 (See reference Bib. 5420); Didier Aaron & Cie, Paris; purchased by the Art Museum, 2006.;
- Dessins anciens et des XIXe et XXe siècles, (Paris: Picard Audap Solanet Velliet, 2003).
- "Acquisitions of the Princeton University Art Museum 2006," Record of the Princeton University Art Museum 66 (2007): p. 41-74., p. 44
- Laura Giles, Lia Markey, Claire Van Cleave, et. al., Italian Master Drawings from the Princeton University Art Museum, (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Art Museum, 2014)., p. 44, cat. no. 17; p. 45 (illus.); p. 46 (verso illus.); p. 257-258, app. no. 86; p. 258 (illus.)
