1550–1600
(Italian, c. 1500–1572)
Black chalk; framing lines in traces of gold ink
Support: Blue laid paper
Sheet: 20.3 x 13.4 cm (8 x 5 1/4 in.)
Dudley P. Allen Fund 1924.1002
Sixteenth-century artists from the northern provinces of Italy like Giulio Campi often focused on painterly effects such as light and shadow, rather than line, in their drawings.
This sheet of sketches was drawn from imagination in preparation for a painting. Here, the artist explored five different ways to capture the motion of a restless child enfolded in its mother’s embrace. Blue-gray papers like this were made from indigo-dyed rags and typically used for drawings by 16th-century Venetian artists such as Giulio Campi to study the painterly effects of light and shade.
The information about this object, including provenance, may not be currently accurate. If you notice a mistake or have additional information about this object, please email collectionsdata@clevelandart.org.
To request more information about this object, study images, or bibliography, contact the Ingalls Library Reference Desk.
All images and data available through Open Access can be downloaded for free. For images not available through Open Access, a detail image, or any image with a color bar, request a digital file from Image Services.