| OTTAVIO LEONI (Rome 1578 - 1630) PORTRAIT OF A LADY Black chalk, heightened with white, on light grey paper; 205 x 150 mm. Ottavio was the son of the Paduan-born Ludovico Leoni (1542–1612), a maker of medals and wax relief portraits, who came to Rome in the time of Pope Gregory XIII. Although Ottavio was active entirely in Rome, where his father had also worked and died, he was often known as ‘il Padovano’ because of the family origins. A very few altarpieces by Ottavio Leoni are to be found in Roman churches; but his portrait engravings and many portrait drawings are well known and of very high quality. He became 'Principe' of the Accademia di San Luca in 1614. In 1621 Leoni became a member of the Accademia dei Virtuosi del Pantheon, the body to which he presented in 1628 an oil portrait of Gregory XV. |
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