Currently not on view

Palma Giovane,

mid-1750s (?)

Domenico Tiepolo, Italian, 1727–1804
after Alessandro Vittoria, Italian, 1525–1608
x1944-15

Drawing after sculpture was a common practice in Venetian workshops beginning in the sixteenth century. The eighteenth-century painter Giovanni Battista Tiepolo kept casts of sculpture in his studio for teaching and study purposes. These included copies of a sixteenth-century bust of the painter Palma Giovane by Alessandro Vittoria. Once thought to be by Giovanni Battista, this drawing is now attributed to his son Domenico, who emulated his father’s characteristic technique of red and white chalks on blue paper. The effect is lifelike, with the light falling from above so as to create a varied play of shadows on the sculpted surface.

Information

Title
Palma Giovane
Dates

mid-1750s (?)

Medium
Red chalk with white chalk
Dimensions
25 × 18.2 cm. (9 13/16 × 7 3/16 in.) frame: 53 × 40.3 × 2.5 cm (20 7/8 × 15 7/8 × 1 in.)
Credit Line
Gift of Frank Jewett Mather Jr.
Object Number
x1944-15
Inscription
in brown ink, on verso lower left: Disegno di G. B. Tiepolo Veneto.
Marks/Labels/Seals
Watermark: [Three crescent moons] [cf. Heawood 867: Venice, 1696]
Reference Numbers
Gibbons 586
Culture
Materials