Palma il Giovane
1544-1628
Virgin and Child in Glory, with Five Saints. Verso: Five Studies for a Kneeling Saint
1605
15 1/4 x 8 5/16 inches (389 x 211 mm)
Pen and brown ink and wash, over red chalk, on laid paper; verso: pen and brown ink and red chalk.
IV, 84a
Purchased by Pierpont Morgan (1837-1913) in 1909.
Notes
Watermark: none.
At no point in his career did Palma settle into a single mode of drawing, although the simple, quick study in pen, ink, and wash remained his favored technique. Even when drawing a fairly complete compositional modello like this one for his altarpiece in San Zaccaria, in later years Palma tended to elaborate a chalk underdrawing--in this case red chalk--with rather quickly applied layers of pen lines and wash. The drawing is the work of an artist entirely in control of his media, and the manner in which the wash and paper reserves convey the fall of light and shadow across the figures of the altarpiece evinces subtlety and sophistication. -- Exhibition Label, from "Drawing in Tintoretto's Venice"
At no point in his career did Palma settle into a single mode of drawing, although the simple, quick study in pen, ink, and wash remained his favored technique. Even when drawing a fairly complete compositional modello like this one for his altarpiece in San Zaccaria, in later years Palma tended to elaborate a chalk underdrawing--in this case red chalk--with rather quickly applied layers of pen lines and wash. The drawing is the work of an artist entirely in control of his media, and the manner in which the wash and paper reserves convey the fall of light and shadow across the figures of the altarpiece evinces subtlety and sophistication. -- Exhibition Label, from "Drawing in Tintoretto's Venice"
Associated names
Murray, Charles Fairfax, 1849-1919, former owner.
Morgan, J. Pierpont (John Pierpont), 1837-1913, former owner.
Morgan, J. Pierpont (John Pierpont), 1837-1913, former owner.
Bibliography
John Marciari, Drawing in Tintoretto's Venice, New York, 2018, no. 76, fig. 165, repr.
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. 79-80, no. 145, repr.
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. 79-80, no. 145, repr.
Artist
Classification
Century Drawings
School
Catalog link
Department