Drawn to Drama Italian Works on Paper

Transcription

1 Drawn to Drama Italian Works on Paper October 12, 2008 January 4, 2009

2 Drawn to Drama Italian Works on Paper, October 12, 2008 January 4, 2009 The grand narrative tradition ignited during the Renaissance remained central to the visual arts in Italy until the modern period. Dramatic, multifigure compositions portraying mythological, religious, or historical events were considered the highest calling for painters. Only these subjects, it was thought, could fire the passions of the viewer and raise his or her moral consciousness. The artist s ability to render the human figure, the measure of all things, was essential to any narrative painting s aesthetic and iconographic effectiveness, and this skill was mastered through drawing. Drawn to Drama presents a survey of Italian draftsmanship from the early sixteenth to the late eighteenth centuries. It features the spectrum of drawing types, from sketches of expressive heads and nude figures to elaborate compositional studies for altarpieces and ceiling frescoes. Half the drawings are from the Clark s own holdings, and half are borrowed from a private collection; many have rarely or never been seen by the public. In the exhibition they are arranged in groupings that underscore the themes and pictorial strategies that occupied Italian artists across three centuries. Whatever the subject, artists sought to meet a variety of challenges: to make complex or obscure episodes meaningful for the ordinary viewer; to inspire the spectator, emotionally or aesthetically; or to bring new vitality to commonly depicted subjects. It was also during this period that connoisseurs began to collect drawings, appreciating them as works of art in their own right and as windows into the creative process. For viewers today, this remains among the drawings greatest appeal. This exhibition was organized by the.

3 COVER: Detail of Head of a Satyr, 1596, by Giuseppe Cesari, called Cavaliere d Arpino; INSIDE FROM LEFT TO RIGHT: Detail of Saturn Devouring His Children, c , by Johann Paul Schor; Detail of Head of a Woman, Early 1490s, by Giovanni Antonio Boltraffio; Detail of Standing Male Nude, c , by Francesco Fontebasso; The Choice of Hercules, 1712, by Paolo de Matteis; Detail of The Crucifixion, c. 1651, by Giovanni Benedetto Castiglione

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5 Exhibition Checklist Giovanni Antonio Boltraffio Italian, 1466/ Head of a Woman Early 1490s Silverpoint x inches Giuseppe Cades Italian, The Coronation of the Virgin c Pen and brown ink x inches Luca Cambiaso Italian, The Annunciation c and gray washes x 8 inches Gift of Robert and Lillian Fraker in memory of John and Alice Steiner Domenico Campagnola Italian, The Virgin and Child in a Landscape with Saints Michael and Jerome c Pen and brown ink over black chalk x inches Domenico Maria Canuti Italian, A Seated Prophet with an Alternative Study of his Head c Pen and brown ink with sanguine and brown washes over red chalk x inches Giovanni Benedetto Castiglione Italian, The Crucifixion c Oil 16 x 11 inches Luca Cattapane Italian, active The Adoration of the Shepherds c wash and white heightening 15 x inches Giuseppe Cesari, called Cavaliere d Arpino Italian, Head of a Satyr 1596 Black and red chalk x 6 inches Giovanni Antonio Crecolini Italian, Two Designs for a Processional Coach 1691 Pen and brown ink with gray wash x inches (each) Giovanni Battista Crosato Italian, Adonis in the Realm of Flora c Pen and brown ink with blue wash on paper squared in black chalk x 18 inches Ciro Ferri Italian, The Resurrection c wash, black chalk, and white heightening x inches Artist unknown (Florentine School) 17th century The Baptism of Christ c Pen and brown ink with blue wash 12 x inches Francesco Fontebasso Italian, The Martyrdom of Saint Alexander of Bergamo c white heightening x inches Francesco Fontebasso Italian, Standing Male Nude c Pen and brown ink x inches Battista Franco, called Il Semolei Italian, c Head of a Soldier c Red chalk x inches Ubaldo Gandolfi Italian, The Entombment of Christ c wash 8 x inches Artist unknown (Genoese School) The Apotheosis of Hercules c Pen and brown ink with gray wash over black chalk squared in black chalk x inches Luca Giordano Italian, The Death of Saint Joseph 1677 Red chalk on pink paper x inches Luca Giordano Italian, Rinaldo and Armida c Red chalk on pink paper x inches Giovanni da San Giovanni Italian, A Young Woman in a Yellow Robe c Black, red, and other colored chalk on blue paper x inches Guercino (Giovanni Francesco Barbieri) Italian, Seated Male Figure c Red chalk x inches Jacopo da Empoli Italian, c Saint Joseph c black chalk squared in red chalk 10 x inches Benedetto Luti Italian, A Bearded Apostle Reading 1712 Pastel and chalk x 13 inches Pietro Malombra Italian, The Finding of the True Cross c black chalk with white heightening on blue paper x inches Carlo Maratta Italian, Head of Saint Sebastian Black chalk with white heightening on paper x inches Giuseppe Marchesi, called Il Sansone Italian, Saint Benedict Raising a Child c wash on paper x inches Pietro Marchesini Italian, The Vision of Saint Margaret of Cortona 1728 Red chalk x inches Niccolò Martinelli, called Il Trometta Italian, c c The Agony in the Garden white heightening on blue paper squared in black chalk 14 x inches Paolo de Matteis Italian, The Choice of Hercules 1712 Pen and brown ink with gray wash and white heightening on blue paper x 16 inches Pier Francesco Mola Italian, The Immaculate Conception 1650s and gray washes over black chalk x inches Giuseppe Nicola Nasini Italian, Christ Presenting Saint Stanislaus Kostka to Saint Maria Maddalena dei Pazzi c white heightening over black chalk on paper x inches Giovanni Battista Pace Italian, active c c Saint John the Baptist in a Landscape c wash x inches Paolo Pagani Italian, c The Resurrection c wash over red chalk x inches Jacopo Palma il Giovane Italian, c Saint Onophrius in the Wilderness c wash over black chalk x inches Jacopo Palma il Giovane Italian, c Sheet of Studies for a Frescoed Ceiling c Pen and brown ink x inches, Williamstown, Massachusetts Giuseppe Passeri Italian, The Assumption of the Virgin c Pen and brown ink with pink wash and white heightening x inches Lorenzo Peracini Italian, The Martyrdom of Saint Barbara 1742 Pen and black ink with gray wash x 13 inches Perino del Vaga Italian, Saint Peter c Pen and brown ink squared in black chalk x inches Perino del Vaga Italian, Studies of Horses c Pen and brown ink x inches Domenico Piola Italian, The Adoration of the Shepherds c. 1680s/90s black chalk x inches Domenico Piola Italian, The Madonna of Savona Appearing to Antonio Botta c and gray washes x inches Follower of Raphael The Virgin Mary Surrounded by the Holy Women 16th century Pen and black ink with gray wash and white heightening x inches Cristoforo Roncalli, called Il Pomarancio Italian, c Studies of an Angel Playing the Viola da Gamba c Red chalk x inches Cristoforo Roncalli, called Il Pomarancio Italian, c Two Studies of a Youth c Black chalk on blue paper x Giovanni Battista Ruggieri, called Battistino del Gessi Italian, The Assumption of the Virgin c Pen and brown ink with blue wash and white heightening x inches Andrea del Sarto Italian, Study of Drapery Black chalk x inches Johann Paul Schor Austrian, active in Italy, Saturn Devouring His Children c white heightening x 10 inches Jan van der Straet, called Stradanus Flemish, active in Italy, The Ascension 1590 white heightening 12 x 9 inches The Annunciation wash over black chalk 17 x inches The Flight into Egypt c wash over red chalk x 8 inches Hagar and Ishmael in the Wilderness wash over black chalk x inches The Liberation of Saint Peter wash over black chalk x inches The Rest on the Flight into Egypt c wash 12 x inches The Burial of Saint Anne wash x inches A Disputation between Kings and Priests wash over black chalk x 15 inches Italian, Galloping Centaur c wash x inches The Liberation of Saints Peter and John from Prison wash over black chalk x 15 inches Nebuchadnezzar Returning from the Wilderness to His Palace black chalk x inches The Young Virgin Accepts the Scarlet and the Pure Purple and gray washes over black chalk x inches Giorgio Vasari Italian, The Incredulity of Saint Thomas c black chalk squared in black chalk x inches Attributed to Paolo Veronese Italian, Study of a Kneeling Priest c Black and white chalk x inches Federico Zuccaro Italian, c The Assumption of the Virgin c Pen and brown ink 14 x inches Taddeo Zuccaro Italian, Centaur and Nereid with Tritons c pencil and red chalk x 7 inches

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