Watermark: none.
The drawing represents a study by the artist for "Pope Alexander III and Doge Sebastiano Ziani sent Otto to Negotiate Peace with Emperor Frederick Barbarossa", in the Sala del Maggior Consigio, Ducal Palace, Venice, painted ca. 1583.
Formerly attributed to Paris Bordone, Treviso 1500-1571 Venice.
Set in the Piazza San Marco, Palma's Pope Alexander III and Doge Sebastiano Ziani Send Otto to Frederick Barbarossa recalls the Venetian tradition of depicting civic pageantry that goes back to the works of Gentile Bellini and Carpaccio, a tradition revived in the murals that Titian, Veronese, and Tintoretto had painted for the Palazzo Ducale in the 1560s. Moreover, Palma's preparatory drawing for the central figure of the scene could hardly be more quintessentially Venetian. So much does this sheet recall the drawings of the great masters earlier in the century that it was traditionally attributed to Titian himself, and when it was acquired by the Morgan in 1991, it was believed to be by Paris Bordone. Only later was it recognized as Palma's study for the figure of Doge Sebastiano Ziani. -- Exhibition Label, from "Drawing in Tintoretto's Venice"
Inscribed on verso in graphite, "V.o[o superscript] Tiziano-".
Bordone, Paris, 1500-1571, Formerly attributed to.
John Marciari, Drawing in Tintoretto's Venice, New York, 2018, no. 73, fig. 162, repr.