GRINLING GIBBONS ONLINE

Putto with skull 

Creator(s):   Grinling Gibbons 1648-1721; Arnold Quellin born 1653

Date:    c1680-1700

Accession Number:    A.17-1982

Dimensions:   Height: 100.5 cm

Materials:   Marble

Location:   V&A in storage

Credit Line (copyright notice for material) :   © Victoria and Albert Museum, London

Online Catalogue Entry :    http://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O72773/putto-with-skull-statue-gibbons-grinling/

Marble statue of a putto with a skull, possibly workshop Grinling Gibbons or Arnold Quellin © Victoria and Albert Museum, London

NOTES ON THE ARTWORK


Marble statue of a putto with a skull, possibly workshop Grinling Gibbons or Arnold Quellin, England, ca. 1680-1700. The putto is half-nude, half-swathed in drapery, resting on his right foot, the other leg bent. He carries a skull in his left hand. This figure is badly eroded, possibly from weathering. The attribution to the London workshop of Grinling Gibbons or Arnold Quellin is suggested by comparisons with the carving on the Whitehall Palace altarpiece executed for King James II in 1686. Apparently, prior to the Museum acquiring it, this putto was in the Old Greycoat School, Westminster, London.

Object history note

Bought for £300 from the Heim Gallery, Jermyn Street, London, in 1982. According to the vendor, previously at the Old Greycoat School, Westminster (founded in 1698).