Home Online catalogues Studi & Schizzi III. Composing Until the nineteenth century, most Italian works were created in response to commissions – mainly from the Church, institutions, royalty or the aristocracy. The contract binding the artist to the client specified certain requirements such as the iconography, the number of figures, the materials to be employed, the price and also the intended location of the work of art.When he began making preparatory drawings, the artist would bear in mind these parameters, and also the setting for which the painting was destined. Compositional studies were in fact devoted to laying out the arrangement of the figures and the relationship between them, according to the format and the future location of the work. On these sheets, clues such as the shape of the framing line, the architectural elements, the choice of a certain viewpoint, allow us to work out whether we are looking at a preparatory drawing for a statue or a painting, a fresco for the lunette of a cloister, an altarpiece or a monumental decorative scheme for a palazzo. [L’artista] habbisi risguardo bene al luogo dove và collocata, o’ dipinta [...], percioche le più volte il lume non buono, la molta altezza, & la lontananza di quelle, fa rimanere ingannati etiandio gli espertissimi [...], & percio si vada più, & più volte a quel luogo, & quivi se l’imagini veder come dipinta, & la misuri col discorso, & come le figure principali debbano esser a voler che si mostrino a par del vivo, ... [The artist] must look carefully at the place where [the work of art] is to be placed, or painted [...], more often than not bad light, great height and distance mislead even the greatest experts [...]; for that reason you should go again and again to that place, and you should imagine seeing the painting already there, compare it with the brief and check how the principal figures should be placed in order to appear as living beings. Giovanni Battista Armenini, De veri precetti della pittura, Ravenna, 1587 58. Bernardino Campi Cremona 1522 – 1591 Reggio nell’Emilia This drawing belongs to a group of three sheets (Biblioteca Reale, Turin and The Art Institute, Chicago) representing male figures dressed in the Antique manner standing in niches. Bernadino Campi drew these afflicted figures, constrained by the shallow space they inhabit, in his painstakingly (…) 59. Bartolomeo Cesi Bologna 1556 – 1629 Bologna Many of Bartolomeo Cesi’s preliminary drawings for the frescoes of the Cappella Maggiore in the Certosa in Bologna (1612-16) still survive. This sheet was executed at an advanced stage of the preparatory work. Cesi was mindful of the frame and of the space in which he placed his figures. Here (…) 60. Pier Francesco Mazzucchelli, called Morazzone Morazzone 1573 – 1626 Morazzone or Piacenza This impressive figure of a prophet is connected to the fresco executed by Morazzone in the Sacro Monte, Varallo (1609-13). In the Ecce Homo Chapel, the decoration of imagined architecture and figures painted in trompe-l’œil by the artist provides a fitting background to the terracotta statues, (…) 61. Paolo Farinati Verona 1524 – 1606 Verona Representations of standing figures in niches occur frequently in the graphic work of Paolo Farinati, and are widespread in the decorative schemes of the villas built in the Veneto in the second half of the sixteenth century. The sheet shown here, however, has not been connected to any of these (…) 62. Federico Zuccari Sant’Angelo in Vado circa 1540 – 1609 Ancona This drawing by Federico Zuccari is a design for a room in a palace which was probably a papal commission, but was never realised. Zuccari took great care to represent all the architectural elements of the room: the dado cornice and the openings – two doors and two windows – all evenly covered (…) 63. Giovanni Battista Ricci Novara 1537 ? – 1627 Rome Giovanni Battista Ricci was one of the painters who worked on papal decorations at the end of the sixteenth and beginning of the seventeenth centuries. This drawing was probably a preparatory sketch for one of these commissions, although the painting itself has never been identified. It (…) 64. Attributed to Ventura Salimbeni Siena 1568 – 1613 Siena In line with an iconographic tradition that prevailed in Italy since the fifteenth century, this representation of the birth of the Virgin focuses on the child being bathed while her mother, St Anne, lies in bed in the background. The composition is sketched in black chalk, swiftly outlining the (…) 65. Ventura Salimbeni Siena 1568 – 1613 Siena In this drawing, the skilful arrangement of the spectators creates a curved movement which echoes – in reverse – the arched framing line. The artist has thus freed the central space to contain the main action: Zechariah kneeling in front of the altar as the Angel Gabriel appears. This type of (…) 66. Niccolo de Martinelli, called il Trometta Pesaro circa 1540 – 1611 Rome It has not been possible to relate this drawing to any of Martinelli’s decorative schemes. It demonstrates, nevertheless, the degree to which his style derived from the art of the Roman Mannerists, in particular that of Taddeo Zuccari. From Zuccari come the expressiveness of the figures and the (…) 67. Anonymous, school of Verona, second half of 15th century The author of this drawing has constructed a complex architectural setting to accommodate the Virgin and Child, venerated by two monks. The structure of the design suggests that it was destined for the wall of a chapel, probably in a Gothic church in Verona. The figures are arranged against the (…) 68. Giovanni Battista della Rovere, called Fiammenghino Milan circa 1561 – circa 1630 Milan The architectural element – a vault forming an arch supported by two pilasters – drawn here by Giovanni Battista della Rovere, is characteristic of altarpiece frames. Following a traditional composition in two registers, the artist has portrayed the Virgin being crowned by angels and worshipped (…) 69. Domenico Piola Genoa 1627 – 1703 Genoa The multiple directions in which this drawing can be read, and the viewpoint da sotto in su – which creates vertiginous foreshortening in the representation of the figures – indicate that it is a preparatory design for a ceiling. The very specific shape of the frame and the iconography connect (…) 70. Girolamo Macchietti Florence 1535 – 1592 Florence Previously ascribed to Denys Calvaert, this drawing was correctly reattributed by Marta Privitera (1994) to the Florentine artist Girolamo Macchietti. Privitera identified it as a modello for a painting of St Laurence (Luzzetti Collection, Florence). This tondo was probably intended to adorn one (…) 71. Giuseppe Maria Rolli Bologna 1645 – 1727 Bologna Cropped by a former owner along the framing line made by the artist, this sheet is a preparatory drawing for the decoration of a ceiling. Using red chalk and then ink, Rolli depicted the Olympian Gods scattered amongst the clouds, preparing to welcome Hercules at the moment of his apotheosis. In (…)
Home Online catalogues Studi & Schizzi III. Composing Until the nineteenth century, most Italian works were created in response to commissions – mainly from the Church, institutions, royalty or the aristocracy. The contract binding the artist to the client specified certain requirements such as the iconography, the number of figures, the materials to be employed, the price and also the intended location of the work of art.When he began making preparatory drawings, the artist would bear in mind these parameters, and also the setting for which the painting was destined. Compositional studies were in fact devoted to laying out the arrangement of the figures and the relationship between them, according to the format and the future location of the work. On these sheets, clues such as the shape of the framing line, the architectural elements, the choice of a certain viewpoint, allow us to work out whether we are looking at a preparatory drawing for a statue or a painting, a fresco for the lunette of a cloister, an altarpiece or a monumental decorative scheme for a palazzo. [L’artista] habbisi risguardo bene al luogo dove và collocata, o’ dipinta [...], percioche le più volte il lume non buono, la molta altezza, & la lontananza di quelle, fa rimanere ingannati etiandio gli espertissimi [...], & percio si vada più, & più volte a quel luogo, & quivi se l’imagini veder come dipinta, & la misuri col discorso, & come le figure principali debbano esser a voler che si mostrino a par del vivo, ... [The artist] must look carefully at the place where [the work of art] is to be placed, or painted [...], more often than not bad light, great height and distance mislead even the greatest experts [...]; for that reason you should go again and again to that place, and you should imagine seeing the painting already there, compare it with the brief and check how the principal figures should be placed in order to appear as living beings. Giovanni Battista Armenini, De veri precetti della pittura, Ravenna, 1587 58. Bernardino Campi Cremona 1522 – 1591 Reggio nell’Emilia This drawing belongs to a group of three sheets (Biblioteca Reale, Turin and The Art Institute, Chicago) representing male figures dressed in the Antique manner standing in niches. Bernadino Campi drew these afflicted figures, constrained by the shallow space they inhabit, in his painstakingly (…) 59. Bartolomeo Cesi Bologna 1556 – 1629 Bologna Many of Bartolomeo Cesi’s preliminary drawings for the frescoes of the Cappella Maggiore in the Certosa in Bologna (1612-16) still survive. This sheet was executed at an advanced stage of the preparatory work. Cesi was mindful of the frame and of the space in which he placed his figures. Here (…) 60. Pier Francesco Mazzucchelli, called Morazzone Morazzone 1573 – 1626 Morazzone or Piacenza This impressive figure of a prophet is connected to the fresco executed by Morazzone in the Sacro Monte, Varallo (1609-13). In the Ecce Homo Chapel, the decoration of imagined architecture and figures painted in trompe-l’œil by the artist provides a fitting background to the terracotta statues, (…) 61. Paolo Farinati Verona 1524 – 1606 Verona Representations of standing figures in niches occur frequently in the graphic work of Paolo Farinati, and are widespread in the decorative schemes of the villas built in the Veneto in the second half of the sixteenth century. The sheet shown here, however, has not been connected to any of these (…) 62. Federico Zuccari Sant’Angelo in Vado circa 1540 – 1609 Ancona This drawing by Federico Zuccari is a design for a room in a palace which was probably a papal commission, but was never realised. Zuccari took great care to represent all the architectural elements of the room: the dado cornice and the openings – two doors and two windows – all evenly covered (…) 63. Giovanni Battista Ricci Novara 1537 ? – 1627 Rome Giovanni Battista Ricci was one of the painters who worked on papal decorations at the end of the sixteenth and beginning of the seventeenth centuries. This drawing was probably a preparatory sketch for one of these commissions, although the painting itself has never been identified. It (…) 64. Attributed to Ventura Salimbeni Siena 1568 – 1613 Siena In line with an iconographic tradition that prevailed in Italy since the fifteenth century, this representation of the birth of the Virgin focuses on the child being bathed while her mother, St Anne, lies in bed in the background. The composition is sketched in black chalk, swiftly outlining the (…) 65. Ventura Salimbeni Siena 1568 – 1613 Siena In this drawing, the skilful arrangement of the spectators creates a curved movement which echoes – in reverse – the arched framing line. The artist has thus freed the central space to contain the main action: Zechariah kneeling in front of the altar as the Angel Gabriel appears. This type of (…) 66. Niccolo de Martinelli, called il Trometta Pesaro circa 1540 – 1611 Rome It has not been possible to relate this drawing to any of Martinelli’s decorative schemes. It demonstrates, nevertheless, the degree to which his style derived from the art of the Roman Mannerists, in particular that of Taddeo Zuccari. From Zuccari come the expressiveness of the figures and the (…) 67. Anonymous, school of Verona, second half of 15th century The author of this drawing has constructed a complex architectural setting to accommodate the Virgin and Child, venerated by two monks. The structure of the design suggests that it was destined for the wall of a chapel, probably in a Gothic church in Verona. The figures are arranged against the (…) 68. Giovanni Battista della Rovere, called Fiammenghino Milan circa 1561 – circa 1630 Milan The architectural element – a vault forming an arch supported by two pilasters – drawn here by Giovanni Battista della Rovere, is characteristic of altarpiece frames. Following a traditional composition in two registers, the artist has portrayed the Virgin being crowned by angels and worshipped (…) 69. Domenico Piola Genoa 1627 – 1703 Genoa The multiple directions in which this drawing can be read, and the viewpoint da sotto in su – which creates vertiginous foreshortening in the representation of the figures – indicate that it is a preparatory design for a ceiling. The very specific shape of the frame and the iconography connect (…) 70. Girolamo Macchietti Florence 1535 – 1592 Florence Previously ascribed to Denys Calvaert, this drawing was correctly reattributed by Marta Privitera (1994) to the Florentine artist Girolamo Macchietti. Privitera identified it as a modello for a painting of St Laurence (Luzzetti Collection, Florence). This tondo was probably intended to adorn one (…) 71. Giuseppe Maria Rolli Bologna 1645 – 1727 Bologna Cropped by a former owner along the framing line made by the artist, this sheet is a preparatory drawing for the decoration of a ceiling. Using red chalk and then ink, Rolli depicted the Olympian Gods scattered amongst the clouds, preparing to welcome Hercules at the moment of his apotheosis. In (…)