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Lot Essay
This sheet is related to Bassano's Mocking of Christ in the Galleria dell'Accademia, Venice, dated by Alessandro Ballarin to circa 1565, op. cit., 1996, fig. 909 (fig. 1). The figure of the man with his right arm raised in the drawing corresponds to the scourger in the painting, while the head in the lower right corner corresponds closely to that of Christ. The composition was engraved by Crispin van de Passe in 1614, A. Ballarin, op. cit, 1996, fig. 910 (Hollstein 155).
According to Alessandro Ballarin, the present drawing could be a study for an earlier version of the composition, now lost but known through a copy in a private collection, Madrid, Ballarin, op. cit., 1996, II, 2, fig. 908. The shirt and the red sash of the scourger in this drawing appears to be closer to those in the Madrid painting. Bassano may have executed the drawing at a slightly earlier stage and re-used it for the painting now at the Accademia.
Professor Rearick suggests that the present sheet is related to a large drawing in colored chalk at the National Gallery of Art, Washington, which shows a similar composition with several differences in the pose and gestures of the figures, B.L. Brown and P. Marini, op. cit, 1993, no. 94. It is dated '1568 da agosti', and Professor Rearick considers it, and the present sheet, to be preparatory for the Accademia picture. He argues that Bassano developed the use of colored chalks in preparatory drawings during that period, R. Rearick, 'Bassano's Coloured Chalk Drawings', Drawing, 1993, 15, I, pp. 1-7.
Alessandro Ballarin, however, separates the present sheet from the group of large colored chalk drawings, such as the Washington sheet. While he considers it to be a study for the picture at the Accademia, he regards the large compositional drawings as a distinctive group of similar size and technique, executed independently for a now lost cycle of the Passion of Christ, A. Ballarin, op. cit., 1985, I, vol. 2, fig. 267-8.
Colored chalk drawings by Bassano are rare. Alessandro Ballarin lists only 23 drawings in this technique, four of them still in private hands.
According to Alessandro Ballarin, the present drawing could be a study for an earlier version of the composition, now lost but known through a copy in a private collection, Madrid, Ballarin, op. cit., 1996, II, 2, fig. 908. The shirt and the red sash of the scourger in this drawing appears to be closer to those in the Madrid painting. Bassano may have executed the drawing at a slightly earlier stage and re-used it for the painting now at the Accademia.
Professor Rearick suggests that the present sheet is related to a large drawing in colored chalk at the National Gallery of Art, Washington, which shows a similar composition with several differences in the pose and gestures of the figures, B.L. Brown and P. Marini, op. cit, 1993, no. 94. It is dated '1568 da agosti', and Professor Rearick considers it, and the present sheet, to be preparatory for the Accademia picture. He argues that Bassano developed the use of colored chalks in preparatory drawings during that period, R. Rearick, 'Bassano's Coloured Chalk Drawings', Drawing, 1993, 15, I, pp. 1-7.
Alessandro Ballarin, however, separates the present sheet from the group of large colored chalk drawings, such as the Washington sheet. While he considers it to be a study for the picture at the Accademia, he regards the large compositional drawings as a distinctive group of similar size and technique, executed independently for a now lost cycle of the Passion of Christ, A. Ballarin, op. cit., 1985, I, vol. 2, fig. 267-8.
Colored chalk drawings by Bassano are rare. Alessandro Ballarin lists only 23 drawings in this technique, four of them still in private hands.