Sketch of Jewelled Antique Bust in the Medici Collection, Florence

Art Historical Context

This delicate gouache by Giuseppe Grisoni captures a jewelled antique bust once housed in the renowned Medici Collection Florence. Created on a small sheet of ivory laid paper measuring just over four inches square, the sketch records the ornate details of a classical sculpture, preserving its form and embellishments for study or posterity. Grisoni’s careful rendering invites viewers to appreciate both the ancient artifact and the artist’s attentive eye. The medium itself—gouache heightened with gold paint over faint black chalk lines—lends the work a luminous, jewel-like quality perfectly suited to its subject. The opaque watercolor allows for rich color and fine detail, while the added gold accents evoke the sparkle of actual gemstones set into the bust. Such techniques were often employed in the 18th century for preparatory studies or souvenir drawings made by artists traveling through Italy’s great collections. As a work now held in the Prints and Drawings department of the Art Institute of Chicago, this intimate sketch offers a window into the enduring fascination with classical antiquity that shaped European taste. It reflects the Medici legacy of preserving and celebrating ancient art, reminding us how artists like Grisoni helped transmit that heritage through their own careful observations.

About the Artist

Giuseppe Grisoni · 1699–1769

Giuseppe Grisoni was born in Mons, in the Spanish Netherlands, in 1699, to an Italian family, and his career unfolded across multiple European courts and cultural centers, making him a quintessentially cosmopolitan figure of the early eighteenth century. He received his artistic training in Florence, where he absorbed the rich tradition of Florentine portraiture and absorbed the influence of the G...