Home Online catalogues Studi & Schizzi II. Assembling the Figures The interactions between the figures in a work of art is an essential element of the quality of the narrative unfolding within it. Artists would make any number of drawings as they sought to express, in two dimensions, the relationship that was developing in real space. Thanks to the spontaneity of the drawings, they could twist and turn the figures, bring them closer together, rearrange or observe them from different angles, in order to evoke the dynamics and diversity of their reactions within a group, or the almost abstract multitude of a crowd.The iconography of the Virgin and Child, widely illustrated in Italian art of the period, favoured the examination of the physical or intellectual contact that linked the two figures. In these studies, the expressive gestures and glances were the draughtsman’s means of exploring the intimate or devotional character of the relationship between the Virgin Mary and her child, which would lend the work the appropriate spiritual atmosphere. E da cio’ nasce l’invenzione, la quale fa mettere insieme in istoria le figure a quattro, a sei, a dieci, a venti, talmente ch’e’ si viene a formare le battagle e l’altre cose grandi dell’arte. Thence was born invention, which determines that in a history painting (istoria) the figures are put together in four, six, ten, or twenty, to form battles and the other grand things of the art. Giorgio Vasari, Le Vite de’ più eccellenti pittori, scultori, e architettori, Florence, 1550 36. Girolamo Genga Urbino circa 1476 – 1551 Urbino This is a preparatory study for The Mystic Marriage of St Catherine (Galleria Nazionale di Palazzo Barberini, Rome), a painting which betrays the influence of Raphael, with whom Genga had come into contact in Perugino’s workshop. In this sheet, Genga pays particular attention to the spatiality (…) 37. Follower of Pietro Vannucci, called Perugino Castello della Pieve 1446/47 –1523 Fontignano This page combines fragments from two study sheets of Madonnas, assembled by a collector probably in the eighteenth century. The draughtsman shows little interest in the anatomical correctness of the figures, concentrating rather on the manner of representing their relationship. He has varied (…) 38. Giovanni di Pietro, called Lo Spagna Perugia circa 1450 – 1528 Spoleto With her hands joined in prayer, the Virgin gazes intently at the Christ Child lying on her knees. Her gesture emphasises the sacred nature of this study, probably a preparatory drawing for a religious commission, but in no way detracts from the palpable affection with which the pair look at (…) 39. Battista Franco, called Semolei Venice circa 1498/1510 – 1561 Venice Battista Franco was a talented draughtsman who developed his own expressive graphic style, characterised by a fine, wandering line which appears uninterrupted. In the sheet belonging to the Fondation Custodia, the forms and figures emerge from a tangle of these volutes. Franco here accentuates (…) 40. Lorenzo Sabatini Bologna circa 1530 – 1576 Rome The first outline in black chalk, which is still visible beneath the red chalk, allowed Sabatini to compose his drawing, which he then heightened with wash and white bodycolour. He took great care in the creation of this Virgin and Child, squaring it for transfer to another support. The ultimate (…) 41. Domenico Zampieri, called Domenichino Bologna 1581 – 1641 Naples Both this sheet and the one preserved in Darmstadt are linked to large religious compositions painted by Domenichino, respectively in San Lorenzo, Miranda and Palazzo Barberini, Rome. They belong to the same type of figure study in black chalk on grey-blue paper which served as preparatory (…) 42. Pietro da Cortona Cortona 1596 – 1669 Rome Pietro da Cortona was one of the greatest representatives of Italian Baroque art. He developed a painstaking graphic style, as can be seen in our drawing and in the one preserved in Würzburg, both preparatory sketches for the painting Rest on the Flight into Egypt (1638, Church of (…) 43. Giovanni Benedetto Castiglione Genoa 1609 – 1664 Mantova Castiglione was one of the most original characters of the Baroque period in Italian art. Probably inspired by the sketches of Rubens and Van Dyck, who both worked in Genoa at the beginning of the seventeenth century, he devised a unique technique of drawing in oil paint on paper. In his lively, (…) 44. Giovanni Francesco Barbieri, called Guercino Cento 1591 – 1666 Bologna This is a primo pensiero, an initial compositional sketch for The Risen Christ Appearing to the Virgin Mary (1628-30, Pinacoteca Civica, Cento), one of Guercino’s finest paintings. Here the artist has drawn the figures half-length, omitting the ample drapery that plays such a strong visual role (…) 45. Alessandro Maganza Vicenza 1556 – after 1632 Vicenza In his customary vibrant and fluid style, Alessandro Maganza has used pen and ink to draw these two figures over a preliminary sketch in black chalk. Departing from the usual iconography of the Noli me tangere in which Christ pushes Mary Magdalen away, here he draws a kneeling female saint (…) 46. Francesco Mazzuola, called Parmigianino Parme 1503 – 1540 Casalmaggiore This work by Parmigianino is one of his most admired drawings, and was reproduced as an engraving as early as the eighteenth century. The artist seems to have wanted to show the two figures as close together as possible, even reducing the space available for the man’s legs to such an extent that (…) 47. Domenico Beccafumi Valdibiena 1486 – 1551 Siena In its subject matter as well as in its execution, this masterly drawing by Domenico Beccafumi is comparable to the artist’s chiaroscuro prints. The elongated, mannered figures were part of the attraction of his style. The unity of this group of three prophets is not based on physical contact, (…) 48. Bernardino Barbatelli, called Poccetti Florence 1548 – 1612 Florence Bernardino Poccetti was one of the most important painters of late sixteenth-century Florence. This preparatory study shows the figures on the right-hand side of The Last Supper, a fresco executed by Poccetti for the Florentine oratory of San Pierino. For this lunette, Poccetti has chosen a (…) 49. Battista Franco, called Semolei Venice circa 1498/1510 – 1561 Venice This scene appears in the background of Battista Franco’s painting of Christ Stumbling under the Weight of the Cross (1552, Uffizi, Florence). The harmony of the composition is due to the assimilation of the art of Raphael. In fact, the group sketched in this drawing was borrowed by Franco from (…) 50. Giovanni Battista Ricci Novara 1537 ? – 1627 Rome The iconography of the apostles standing around the Virgin’s tomb was widely popular in the art of central Italy around 1600. The identification of the work for which this was a preparatory drawing has removed any doubts about its attribution. This study corresponds exactly to the lower part of (…) 51. Lodovico Cardi, called Cigoli San Miniato 1559 – 1613 Rome The two sides of this sheet contain a number of sketches on the same mythological subject: Daedalus creating wings of feathers and wax for his son Icarus. However, no painting has ever been identified on this subject in the oeuvre of the artist. These studies permit us to track the effervescence (…) 52. Federico Zuccari Sant’Angelo in Vado circa 1540 – 1609 Ancona The painting titled Christ Raising the Son of the Widow of Nain was commissioned from Federico Zuccari in 1568 for the Duomo in Orvieto (now in the Museo del Opera del Duomo). A number of drawings can be connected to it. Among these, the compositional study preserved in Amsterdam (Rijksmuseum) (…) 53. Federico Barocci Urbino circa 1526/35 – 1612 Urbino Forty-five drawings, now dispersed in different collections, allow us to track very precisely the evolution of Barocci’s ideas as he was composing his altarpiece of The Visitation (1583-86, Santa Maria in Vallicella, known as the Chiesa Nuova, Rome). From the very first sketch – now in (…) 54. Vittore Carpaccio Venice circa 1455/65 – 1525/26 Venice The figures on this sheet all conform to the same idealised type, whose static nature is emphasised by the straight folds of the heavy Venetian costume. Although not particularly expressive, the figures are grouped in pairs, threes or larger groups (as on the reverse), linked by their spatial (…) 55. Attributed to Tiziano Vecellio, called Titian Pieve di Cadore circa 1488/90 – 1576 Venice This sheet is linked to the fresco painted by Titian in the Scuola del Santo in Padua in 1510-11. The group of figures is arranged as a frieze in a very regular horizontal line. In the centre, St Anthony is encouraging an infant to speak out in order to save the honour of his mother, suspected (…) 56. Battista d’Angolo, called Battista del Moro Verona circa 1514 – circa 1573/75 Venice This highly finished drawing was in all likelihood executed in preparation for one of the many decorative schemes carried out by the painter and engraver Battista del Moro for churches in Verona. Here he depicts St Nicholas lunging forward to snatch the executioner’s sword, thus saving one of (…) 57. Alessandro Maganza Vicenza 1556 – after 1632 Vicenza Alessandro Maganza was in the habit of preparing his paintings with the help of boldly-drawn compositional sketches such as the one presented here. He used black chalk followed by pen. The brown ink supplied a useful contrast and allowed him to select certain elements, specifying their contours (…)
Home Online catalogues Studi & Schizzi II. Assembling the Figures The interactions between the figures in a work of art is an essential element of the quality of the narrative unfolding within it. Artists would make any number of drawings as they sought to express, in two dimensions, the relationship that was developing in real space. Thanks to the spontaneity of the drawings, they could twist and turn the figures, bring them closer together, rearrange or observe them from different angles, in order to evoke the dynamics and diversity of their reactions within a group, or the almost abstract multitude of a crowd.The iconography of the Virgin and Child, widely illustrated in Italian art of the period, favoured the examination of the physical or intellectual contact that linked the two figures. In these studies, the expressive gestures and glances were the draughtsman’s means of exploring the intimate or devotional character of the relationship between the Virgin Mary and her child, which would lend the work the appropriate spiritual atmosphere. E da cio’ nasce l’invenzione, la quale fa mettere insieme in istoria le figure a quattro, a sei, a dieci, a venti, talmente ch’e’ si viene a formare le battagle e l’altre cose grandi dell’arte. Thence was born invention, which determines that in a history painting (istoria) the figures are put together in four, six, ten, or twenty, to form battles and the other grand things of the art. Giorgio Vasari, Le Vite de’ più eccellenti pittori, scultori, e architettori, Florence, 1550 36. Girolamo Genga Urbino circa 1476 – 1551 Urbino This is a preparatory study for The Mystic Marriage of St Catherine (Galleria Nazionale di Palazzo Barberini, Rome), a painting which betrays the influence of Raphael, with whom Genga had come into contact in Perugino’s workshop. In this sheet, Genga pays particular attention to the spatiality (…) 37. Follower of Pietro Vannucci, called Perugino Castello della Pieve 1446/47 –1523 Fontignano This page combines fragments from two study sheets of Madonnas, assembled by a collector probably in the eighteenth century. The draughtsman shows little interest in the anatomical correctness of the figures, concentrating rather on the manner of representing their relationship. He has varied (…) 38. Giovanni di Pietro, called Lo Spagna Perugia circa 1450 – 1528 Spoleto With her hands joined in prayer, the Virgin gazes intently at the Christ Child lying on her knees. Her gesture emphasises the sacred nature of this study, probably a preparatory drawing for a religious commission, but in no way detracts from the palpable affection with which the pair look at (…) 39. Battista Franco, called Semolei Venice circa 1498/1510 – 1561 Venice Battista Franco was a talented draughtsman who developed his own expressive graphic style, characterised by a fine, wandering line which appears uninterrupted. In the sheet belonging to the Fondation Custodia, the forms and figures emerge from a tangle of these volutes. Franco here accentuates (…) 40. Lorenzo Sabatini Bologna circa 1530 – 1576 Rome The first outline in black chalk, which is still visible beneath the red chalk, allowed Sabatini to compose his drawing, which he then heightened with wash and white bodycolour. He took great care in the creation of this Virgin and Child, squaring it for transfer to another support. The ultimate (…) 41. Domenico Zampieri, called Domenichino Bologna 1581 – 1641 Naples Both this sheet and the one preserved in Darmstadt are linked to large religious compositions painted by Domenichino, respectively in San Lorenzo, Miranda and Palazzo Barberini, Rome. They belong to the same type of figure study in black chalk on grey-blue paper which served as preparatory (…) 42. Pietro da Cortona Cortona 1596 – 1669 Rome Pietro da Cortona was one of the greatest representatives of Italian Baroque art. He developed a painstaking graphic style, as can be seen in our drawing and in the one preserved in Würzburg, both preparatory sketches for the painting Rest on the Flight into Egypt (1638, Church of (…) 43. Giovanni Benedetto Castiglione Genoa 1609 – 1664 Mantova Castiglione was one of the most original characters of the Baroque period in Italian art. Probably inspired by the sketches of Rubens and Van Dyck, who both worked in Genoa at the beginning of the seventeenth century, he devised a unique technique of drawing in oil paint on paper. In his lively, (…) 44. Giovanni Francesco Barbieri, called Guercino Cento 1591 – 1666 Bologna This is a primo pensiero, an initial compositional sketch for The Risen Christ Appearing to the Virgin Mary (1628-30, Pinacoteca Civica, Cento), one of Guercino’s finest paintings. Here the artist has drawn the figures half-length, omitting the ample drapery that plays such a strong visual role (…) 45. Alessandro Maganza Vicenza 1556 – after 1632 Vicenza In his customary vibrant and fluid style, Alessandro Maganza has used pen and ink to draw these two figures over a preliminary sketch in black chalk. Departing from the usual iconography of the Noli me tangere in which Christ pushes Mary Magdalen away, here he draws a kneeling female saint (…) 46. Francesco Mazzuola, called Parmigianino Parme 1503 – 1540 Casalmaggiore This work by Parmigianino is one of his most admired drawings, and was reproduced as an engraving as early as the eighteenth century. The artist seems to have wanted to show the two figures as close together as possible, even reducing the space available for the man’s legs to such an extent that (…) 47. Domenico Beccafumi Valdibiena 1486 – 1551 Siena In its subject matter as well as in its execution, this masterly drawing by Domenico Beccafumi is comparable to the artist’s chiaroscuro prints. The elongated, mannered figures were part of the attraction of his style. The unity of this group of three prophets is not based on physical contact, (…) 48. Bernardino Barbatelli, called Poccetti Florence 1548 – 1612 Florence Bernardino Poccetti was one of the most important painters of late sixteenth-century Florence. This preparatory study shows the figures on the right-hand side of The Last Supper, a fresco executed by Poccetti for the Florentine oratory of San Pierino. For this lunette, Poccetti has chosen a (…) 49. Battista Franco, called Semolei Venice circa 1498/1510 – 1561 Venice This scene appears in the background of Battista Franco’s painting of Christ Stumbling under the Weight of the Cross (1552, Uffizi, Florence). The harmony of the composition is due to the assimilation of the art of Raphael. In fact, the group sketched in this drawing was borrowed by Franco from (…) 50. Giovanni Battista Ricci Novara 1537 ? – 1627 Rome The iconography of the apostles standing around the Virgin’s tomb was widely popular in the art of central Italy around 1600. The identification of the work for which this was a preparatory drawing has removed any doubts about its attribution. This study corresponds exactly to the lower part of (…) 51. Lodovico Cardi, called Cigoli San Miniato 1559 – 1613 Rome The two sides of this sheet contain a number of sketches on the same mythological subject: Daedalus creating wings of feathers and wax for his son Icarus. However, no painting has ever been identified on this subject in the oeuvre of the artist. These studies permit us to track the effervescence (…) 52. Federico Zuccari Sant’Angelo in Vado circa 1540 – 1609 Ancona The painting titled Christ Raising the Son of the Widow of Nain was commissioned from Federico Zuccari in 1568 for the Duomo in Orvieto (now in the Museo del Opera del Duomo). A number of drawings can be connected to it. Among these, the compositional study preserved in Amsterdam (Rijksmuseum) (…) 53. Federico Barocci Urbino circa 1526/35 – 1612 Urbino Forty-five drawings, now dispersed in different collections, allow us to track very precisely the evolution of Barocci’s ideas as he was composing his altarpiece of The Visitation (1583-86, Santa Maria in Vallicella, known as the Chiesa Nuova, Rome). From the very first sketch – now in (…) 54. Vittore Carpaccio Venice circa 1455/65 – 1525/26 Venice The figures on this sheet all conform to the same idealised type, whose static nature is emphasised by the straight folds of the heavy Venetian costume. Although not particularly expressive, the figures are grouped in pairs, threes or larger groups (as on the reverse), linked by their spatial (…) 55. Attributed to Tiziano Vecellio, called Titian Pieve di Cadore circa 1488/90 – 1576 Venice This sheet is linked to the fresco painted by Titian in the Scuola del Santo in Padua in 1510-11. The group of figures is arranged as a frieze in a very regular horizontal line. In the centre, St Anthony is encouraging an infant to speak out in order to save the honour of his mother, suspected (…) 56. Battista d’Angolo, called Battista del Moro Verona circa 1514 – circa 1573/75 Venice This highly finished drawing was in all likelihood executed in preparation for one of the many decorative schemes carried out by the painter and engraver Battista del Moro for churches in Verona. Here he depicts St Nicholas lunging forward to snatch the executioner’s sword, thus saving one of (…) 57. Alessandro Maganza Vicenza 1556 – after 1632 Vicenza Alessandro Maganza was in the habit of preparing his paintings with the help of boldly-drawn compositional sketches such as the one presented here. He used black chalk followed by pen. The brown ink supplied a useful contrast and allowed him to select certain elements, specifying their contours (…)