Typical of Tintoretto's close supervision of the set of battle paintings that he and his workshop executed for Duke Guglielmo Gonzaga of Mantua, this is a study for a relatively minor character, and the man climbing into a boat just left of center in the middle ground of the Battle of the Adige (now in the Alte Pinakothek, Munich). The drawing began as a rather delicate sketch, but the main contour lines were then traced more forcefully with the charcoal, giving the drawing an abstracted, bold, almost modern appearance. The stronger lines would have been helpful when the drawing was held to the light and retraced to the verso. In the end, the reversed version of the figure on the verso was used for the painting. -- Exhibition Label, from "Drawing in Tintoretto's Venice"
Inscribed at lower right, in pen and brown ink, "G Tintoretto"; on verso, at lower right, in pen and brown ink, in the same hand, "G Tintoretto".
Watermark: Double-tailed mermaid in a shield surmounted by 6-pointed star.
Reynolds, Joshua, Sir, 1723-1792, former owner.
Murray, Charles Fairfax, 1849-1919, former owner.
Morgan, J. Pierpont (John Pierpont), 1837-1913, former owner.
John Marciari, Drawing in Tintoretto's Venice, New York, 2018, no. 45, figs. 95-96, repr.
Collection J. Pierpont Morgan : Drawings by the Old Masters Formed by C. Fairfax Murray. London : Privately printed, 1905-1912, IV, no. 76.
Stampfle, Felice, and Jacob Bean. Drawings from New York collections. I: The Italian Renaissance. New York : Metropolitan Museum of Art : Pierpont Morgan Library, 1965, p. 69-69.
Dervaux, Isabelle. Drawing connections: Baselitz, Kelly, Penone, Rockburne, and the old masters. New York: Morgan Library & Museum, 2007, p. 39-40 (repr.)