JACOPO BERTOIA (1544-74)
Recto: Six horses’ heads. Verso: Mercury and Venus floating in a shell.
c. 1570RCIN 990498
Some of Bertoia’s quirky paintings include struggling horses similar to those here, but it is hard to see a drawing such as this as a study for a painting, and its function is unclear. This apparently odd subject had been a favourite motif of Leonardo da Vinci (see his Neptune, no. 11).
No. 49