An allegory of Africa

One of the leading painters and decorators in Modena at the end of the 17th and the beginning of the 18th Century, Caula was trained under the French artist active in Italy, Jean Boulanger (1606-1660), and worked mainly for the Este family, the rulers of Modena and the surrounding region. Red ink and wash drawings highlighted with white are characteristic of the artist, as for instance illustrated by sheets in the Frits Lugt Collection, Paris (inv. 1981-T.35; see J. Byam Shaw, The Italian Drawings of the Frits Lugt Collection, Paris, 1983, I, no. 405, III, pls. 456, 457) and the British Museum (inv. 1920,1220.1). The present drawing undoubtedly belonged to a series depicting the Continents.