Drawing of the month #2

JACOPO PALMA IL GIOVANE (JACOPO NEGRETTI) (1548–1628)

Hand, head and figure studies

Pen and brown ink and wash on paper, 95 x 125 mm, Kunsthalle Bremen – Der Kunstverein in Bremen, Kupferstichkabinett, Inv. 1924/36

MARIA ARESIN, CURATOR FOR PRINTS AND DRAWINGS UNTIL 1800 AT THE KUNSTHALLE BREMEN, HAS KINDLY CHOSEN OUR SECOND “DRAWING OF THE MONTH”. HER CHOICE, FOLLOWING ON FROM ROSIE RAZZALL’S PISANELLO LAST MONTH, REAFFIRMS THE CURATOR’S AFFINITY FOR THE WORKING STUDY DRAWINg.

“One of my favourite drawings in the collection is a sheet of studies by the Venetian artist Palma il Giovane. It makes for the perfect case study on Palma’s working method, compiling studies for three different purposes on one piece of paper. Two detailed studies of a right hand are framed by a sketch of a lying or crouching male nude on the left and the head of bearded man in profile to the right. The sheet is cut on all sides with some strokes in the lower right corner indicating the former continuation and original format.

Palma was one of the most prolific draftspersons of his time. His first biographer Carlo Ridolfi reported that he used every free minute of his day to draw and, indeed, more than 2000 of his drawings have survived in museum and private collections. The Bremen sketch sheet does not only confirm his incessant need to draw ideas and develop forms on paper, it also shows two different modes of drawing side by side: a carefully drawn, hatched and wash-enhanced study of hands, and swiftly scribbled figure drawings that were probably meant as a prima idea for figures in a painting. It is through this sort of private sketch sheets that we probably feel closest to the artist’s mind and working processes.”