Study of a seated male nude, a patriarch

Author: Albert Elen

This is a study for one of the countless figures in Tintoretto’s densely populated composition with the Crowning of the Virgin, known as Paradise, of circa 1588, now in Madrid, which is the second of two large painted bozzetti (composition designs) for the huge painting in the Palazzo Ducale in Venice.^[1] There it occupies almost the entire eastern wall of the Sala del Maggior Consiglio above the wooden tribuna where the signoria (the government of La Serenissima - the Most Serene Republic of Venice - headed by the Doge) was seated.^[2]

In 1582 all the eminent Venetian painters of the time, Paolo Veronese (1528-1588), Francesco Bassano (1549-1592), Federico Zuccaro (c.1540-1609) and Palma Giovane (c.1548/1550-1628), took part in the official competition for this prestigious project. Although he initially lost the competition to Veronese and Bassano, Tintoretto eventually received the commission. Because of his advanced age, he let his son Domenico (1560-1635) carry out most of the executive work, which was completed in 1592, two years before his death. The first painted bozzetto, now in Paris, was already started around 1564, as a proposal for a large painting to replace an outdated fourteenth-century fresco by Guariento di Arpo (1310-1370) which was no longer considered up to the standards of the republic.^[3] This was before the disastrous fire in Palazzo Ducale in December 1577, which also damaged the convention hall and Guariento’s fresco, the immediate reason for the competition for a suitable replacement. This first design was modified by the artist around 1582 to meet new requirements, as the hall had undergone some architectural changes. The second bozzetto was probably made after the original frieze was also removed at an advanced stage of the renovation, allowing more space at the top of the wall.^[4]

In the final painting Tintoretto combined elements from both painted designs, with countless modifications. Our drawing is one of several preparatory studies for single figures in the second bozzetto, now in Madrid.^[5] It relates to one of the patriarchs at mid-right in the upper section: a male semi-nude leaning backward, with both arms stretched out to the right (fig.). It has not yet been noted that our figure also relates to the relatively large figure in the lower right corner of the Paris bozzetto, although the position of the arms and the left leg differs slightly there.^[6] But eventually both figures were not used in the final painting.

As opposed to the studies after sculptural models, which were made for practice only, all other figure studies were done after life models as part of the creative process in preparation for paintings. They were not made for their own sake but were purely functional, not intended to be attractive. The artist jotted these drawings onto the paper in few minutes, in this case quickly applying the highlights with white oil paint, which he apparently had ready to hand, instead of the usual white chalk. The squaring is slanted, but when the sheet is turned approximately 20 degrees to the right, it is level and the posture of the figure is exactly the same as in the second bozzetto. The present drawing is obviously a fragment cut from a larger sheet with no regard to the correct position, and supplemented at the lower right in order to attain a vertical rectangle format, preferred by collectors.^[7] Another drawing, likewise from the Koenigs Collection, but now in Moscow (I 72), with level squaring, is also related to the Madrid bozzetto.

Classified as a workshop product by Tietze/Tietze-Conrat (1944) and Rossi (2011), the latter dismissing the oil highlights as of poor quality, the drawing is in our opinion rightly accepted as an autograph work, as suggested by Rearick (2001), Loisel (2006) and Marciari (2018).