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Lot Essay
Andrea Meldolla, known in Italy as ‘the Slavonian’, was born in Zadar on the Dalmatian coast to a family of Italian origin. It is uncertain when exactly the artist moved to Venice, where he was to spend most of his career. Influenced by the art of Parmigianino and of contemporary Venetian painters, Schiavone became one of the protagonists of the Mannerist style in the Lagoon. His drawings, as well as his prints, were highly experimental both in style and in technique. This sheet has been recognized as a preparatory study in reverse for an etching by the artist (fig. 1). The purse hanging from the Saint’s belt alludes to his pre-apostolic life as a tax-collector.
After having produced in his youth a series of prints representing Christ, the Apostles, and Saint Paul, inspired by works by Parmigianino, Schiavone created a second series of etchings of Christ and the Apostles around 1550. The prints in the second series are more accomplished and show him as a mature and independent artist (see Richardson, op. cit., p. 87). They are characterized by great virtuosity, particularly in the rendering of light and shadow. The present study relates to the figure of Saint Matthew in the second series. No other preparatory drawing by Schiavone for the Apostles is known, though in the British Museum there is a group of red chalk studies, including a Saint Matthew, made after the etchings that were once believed to be by Schiavone (ibid., no. D226). While Rearick, who published this sheet for the first time (op. cit., p. 424), dated it towards the very end of Schiavone’s career, more recent scholarship favors a date soon after 1550 (Dell’Antonio, op. cit., pp. 291-292).
This powerful drawing is executed exclusively with the brush over black chalk on prepared paper. The elegant figure is captured in an unexpected pose and reveals Schiavone’s debt to Parmigianino’s sophisticated and elegant manner. The drawing can be compared to a sheet depicting Religion triumphant over Heresy in the Louvre (inv. 4849; see Dell’Antonio, op. cit., no. 28, ill.), executed in the same technique and similarly made in preparation for a print of circa 1550.
Fig. 1. Andrea Meldolla, called Lo Schiavone, Saint Matthew, etching. Albertina, Vienna.
After having produced in his youth a series of prints representing Christ, the Apostles, and Saint Paul, inspired by works by Parmigianino, Schiavone created a second series of etchings of Christ and the Apostles around 1550. The prints in the second series are more accomplished and show him as a mature and independent artist (see Richardson, op. cit., p. 87). They are characterized by great virtuosity, particularly in the rendering of light and shadow. The present study relates to the figure of Saint Matthew in the second series. No other preparatory drawing by Schiavone for the Apostles is known, though in the British Museum there is a group of red chalk studies, including a Saint Matthew, made after the etchings that were once believed to be by Schiavone (ibid., no. D226). While Rearick, who published this sheet for the first time (op. cit., p. 424), dated it towards the very end of Schiavone’s career, more recent scholarship favors a date soon after 1550 (Dell’Antonio, op. cit., pp. 291-292).
This powerful drawing is executed exclusively with the brush over black chalk on prepared paper. The elegant figure is captured in an unexpected pose and reveals Schiavone’s debt to Parmigianino’s sophisticated and elegant manner. The drawing can be compared to a sheet depicting Religion triumphant over Heresy in the Louvre (inv. 4849; see Dell’Antonio, op. cit., no. 28, ill.), executed in the same technique and similarly made in preparation for a print of circa 1550.
Fig. 1. Andrea Meldolla, called Lo Schiavone, Saint Matthew, etching. Albertina, Vienna.