Disegno
- Special Exhibition
Italian Drawing Before 1700
James and Hanna Bartlett Prints and Drawings Galleries
James and Hanna Bartlett Prints and Drawings Galleries
About The Exhibition
During the Renaissance (about 1400–1600), drawing became the foundation of artistic practice in Italy. As artists were commissioned to decorate churches, palaces, and civic buildings with ambitious projects, drawing became the essential means of developing ideas and planning complex works of art inspired by biblical, historical, and mythological subjects. The growing availability of paper in this period, along with media such as natural black and red chalks, made drawing an increasingly versatile tool for study, experimentation, and implementation. These advancements supported the expanding role of disegno (“drawing” or “design”) as both a working method and a vehicle for artistic invention. The creative importance placed on drawing was central to elevating the artist’s status from craftsperson to intellectual during the Renaissance.
Disegno: Italian Drawing Before 1700 presents more than 70 works from the Cleveland Museum of Art and distinguished private collections, offering audiences the first major survey of Italian drawings in Cleveland in over 30 years. Spanning nearly three centuries, from about 1450 to 1700, the exhibition traces the rich and varied traditions of disegno that flourished across the Italian Peninsula.
From Florence and Rome to Venice, Bologna, Genoa, and Naples, artists developed distinctive approaches to the materials, techniques, and functions of drawing itself, ranging from rapid workshop studies to highly finished sheets prized by collectors. The exhibition’s highlights include Michelangelo’s study for the Sistine Chapel ceiling, a page from Raphael’s celebrated “Pink Sketchbook,” a floating Cupid in colored chalks by Federico Barocci, and a sheet of energetic sketches by Paolo Veronese. Together, these extraordinary works reveal how drawing shaped artistic training and fueled creative invention in ways that profoundly impacted European art for centuries.
This exhibition is organized by the Cleveland Museum of Art.
Featured Art
Sponsors
All exhibitions at the Cleveland Museum of Art are underwritten by the CMA Fund for Exhibitions. Principal annual support is provided by Michael Frank and the late Pat Snyder, the Kelvin and Eleanor Smith Foundation, the John and Jeanette Walton Exhibition Fund, and Margaret and Loyal Wilson. Major annual support is provided by the late Dick Blum and Harriet Warm and the Frankino-Dodero Family Fund for Exhibitions Endowment. Generous annual support is provided by two anonymous donors, Gini and Randy Barbato, Cynthia and Dale Brogan, Dr. Ben and Julia Brouhard, Brenda and Marshall Brown, Gail and Bill Calfee, the Leigh H. Carter family, Dr. William A. Chilcote Jr. and Dr. Barbara S. Kaplan, Mary and Jim Conway, Joseph and Susan Corsaro, Ron and Cheryl Davis, the Jeffery Wallace Ellis Trust in memory of Lloyd H. Ellis Jr., Leigh and Andy Fabens, Florence Kahane Goodman, Martha H. and Steven M. Hale, Janice Hammond and Edward Hemmelgarn, Linda Harper, Robin Heiser, the late Marta and the late Donald M. Jack Jr., the estate of Walter and Jean Kalberer, Robert M. Kaye, Jane and Doug Kern, the late Mrs. Nancy M. Lavelle, Eva and Rudolf Linnebach, William S. Lipscomb, Bill and Joyce Litzler, the Roy Minoff Family Fund, Lu Anne and the late Carl Morrison, Mrs. Peta and the late Dr. Roland Moskowitz, Jeffrey Mostade and Eric Nilson and Varun Shetty, Sarah Nash, Courtney and Michael Novak, Mark and Paula Nylander, Tim O’Brien and Breck Platner, Dr. Nicholas and Anne Ogan, William J. and Katherine T. O’Neill, Henry Ott-Hansen, Frank and Fran Porter, Christine Fae Powell, Peter and Julie Raskind, Michael and Cindy Resch, Marguerite and James Rigby, in memory of Dee Schafer, Betty T. and David M. Schneider, Elizabeth and Tim Sheeler, Saundra K. Stemen, Paula and Eugene Stevens, the Womens Council of the Cleveland Museum of Art, and Claudia Woods and David Osage.
The Cleveland Museum of Art is funded in part by residents of Cuyahoga County through a public grant from Cuyahoga Arts & Culture.
This exhibition was supported in part by the Ohio Arts Council, which receives support from the State of Ohio and the National Endowment for the Arts.
