Provenance:

With Richard A. Berman, 2005; where acquired by:
Private Collection, New York.

This engaging drawing was made ca. 1530 by Francesco Salviati, one of the major exponents of Florentine Mannerism. An early work by the artist, the drawing belongs to a series called “Il Mondo alla Rovescia” (The World Inside Out), which was probably conceived as book illustrations. The drawing is one of only a few known examples that shows the “Mundus Inverses” or the inverted world, where animals and human’s have traded roles. In this work, various animals and humans are seen in a barn, and the animals are leading the humans to feed on the hay in a manger.