3898 - Venetian.

Venetian. Design for a staircase in a Venetian palace. Venetian, before 1760. Brown pen and ink, washed in gray, outlined with a delicate brown pen line, on laid paper, mounted on a backing sheet bordered with a black pen line, inscribed: "Scala di piedi Veneti" and "5.", as well as "62" in the upper right corner of the backing sheet. 24.8 x 39.2 cm. This meticulous design for a staircase in a Venetian palace—likely a multi-flight, counter-circular arrangement—consists of two parts. On the left, one enters the landing through a wall opening to reach the next flight of stairs, which ascends in the opposite direction. The staircase was to be adorned with Ionic pilasters and an antique-style cornice. In keeping with the Venetian nobility’s preference for seeing themselves as successors to the Roman Republic, a Roman bust was to be placed in the center above the wall opening, and the sculpture of Mutius Scaevola, who represents steadfastness and patriotism. The drawing does not show how the two wall sections are connected