The Birth and Renaissance of Italian Drawing

Because friendship also sometimes exists between institutions, it should come as no surprise to see this fine selection of Italian Renaissance drawings on loan to Paris, just ten years after the unforgettable exhibition "From Bosch to Bloemaert", where Dutch drawings from the Museum Boijmans van Beuningen in Rotterdam shone at the Fondation Custodia (see article), which is now hosting around a hundred pieces impeccably chosen to tell both the story of this Rotterdam collection and the development of drawing in the Italian peninsula between 1430 and 1600. The beautiful display and the excellent accompanying catalogue are the result of six years of research funded by the Getty Paper Project, the importance of which is to be commended: the aim was to study, even reassign, and then digitise the collection with a view to disseminating it, initially online with this extremely rich catalogue, from which were selected the works exhibited in Paris until 12 January.

1. Rome
Silene
Marble - 125 cm
Rome, Fondazione Torlonia
Photo: Musée du Louvre/Nicolas Bousser

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2. Giulio Pippi, called Giulio Romano (1492/1499-1546)
Study of a Fountain, c. 1532-1546
Pen, brush and wash - 37.9 x 25 cm
Rotterdam, Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen
Photo: Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen

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Let’s start with an amusing coincidence: the Parisian public can cross the Seine to discover the ancient marble that inspired Giulio Romano (ill. 1 and 2) thanks to the fortunate extension of the exhibition "Masterpieces from the Torlonia Foundation" until the beginning of January. Although this exhibition falls outside the strict chronological scope of La Tribune de l’Art, how could we not recommend a visit? Its presentation - in the ideal setting of Anne of Austria’s former summer flats, with their freshly restored decor - accentuates the qualities of this aristocratic ensemble, which also tells a fascinating story of the collections and benefits from a scenography as perfect as its catalogue. The Silenus and, above all, the emblematic Torlonia Vase are not to be missed, as the drawing acquired by the Dutch museum in 1930 shows how the vase was laid out during the Renaissance, as Maaerten van Heemskerck had already done in a page of his famous Roman notebooks, which were the subject of a recent exhibition in Berlin - accompanied by a rich catalogue - shortly before his Dutch retrospective in Haarlem and Alkmaar, to which we will return shortly!

3. Antonio di Puccio Pisano, known as Pisanello ( c. 1395-1455)
Four Studies of a Nude Woman, an Annunciation and Two Studies of Women Swimming, c. 1431-1432
Pen and ink on parchment - 22.3 x 16.7 cm
Rotterdam, Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen
Photo: Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen

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Enough digressing: the display is superb, especially as it brings together works that were mostly acquired in a relatively short space of…