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Titolo dell'opera:

Kneeling male figure

Acquisizione:

Marcello Durazzo

Autore:

Tavarone, Lazzaro

Object Type:

drawing

Epoca:

Inventario:

D 3015

Misure:

Unità di misura: mm; Altezza: 362; Larghezza: 260

Tecnica:

carta preparata rossa

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Kneeling male figure

Descrizione:

A pupil and collaborator of Luca Cambiaso, the most important artist active in Genoa in the second half of the 16th century, Tavarone entered the master's workshop at a very young age and followed him to the court of Philip II in Spain in 1583, working on the fresco decoration of the Escorial monastery. Returning to Genoa in 1592, he continued his activity mainly as a fresco painter, decorating the residences of the city's aristocracy with brightly coloured pictorial cycles, with figured panels, faux stucco frames, allegories and grotesques. Among his numerous preparatory drawings, the large sheets on paper dyed red stand out for their originality, in which full-length studies are outlined and shaded in black pencil and subsequently illuminated in white chalk: of this graphic type, far from the pen-and-ink sheets of Cambiaso's master, the Genoese collections preserve the most consistent nucleus. Critics have discerned the influence of Florentine draughtsmanship, both in the use of dyed paper and in the academic exercise on the human figure. These are papers used in the workshop as repertory models to be recovered over time, reproposed several times on painted ceilings, even years later, with minimal readjustments in details and attributes. (PRIARONE, 2021) The drawing depicts a male figure kneeling with his back turned, in the act of prayer.

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Titolo dell'opera:

Design for the stern of a vessel bearing the coat of arms of the Republic of Genoa

Autore:

Piola, Domenico

Object Type:

drawing

Epoca:

Inventario:

D6777

Misure:

Unità di misura: mm; Altezza: 375; Larghezza: 290

Tecnica:

inchiostro a penna su carta bianca

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Design for the stern of a vessel bearing the coat of arms of the Republic of Genoa

Descrizione:

Rectangular drawing on white paper with a design for the stern of a vessel with the coat of arms of the Republic of Genoa.

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Titolo dell'opera:

Martyrdom of St Lawrence

Acquisizione:

Marcello Durazzo

Autore:

Cambiaso, Luca

Object Type:

drawing

Epoca:

Inventario:

D 1853

Misure:

Unità di misura: mm; Altezza: 236; Larghezza: 353

Tecnica:

penna e inchiostro

Ultimi prestiti:

Luca Cambiaso - Genova - 1956

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Martyrdom of St Lawrence

Descrizione:

In a totally unusual manner, Cambiaso chooses in this drawing - probably as an experiment, due to the absence of certain relationships with paintings and frescoes - to show the saint from behind, thus amplifying the dramatic effect of the scene. The still partial 'cubing' of the volumes, moreover, typical of Combiaso's mature production, has allowed the work to be placed around 1570. (BOCCARDO, 1999) In the centre, Saint Lawrence being tortured by soldiers.

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Titolo dell'opera:

St John the Baptist

Acquisizione:

Marcello Durazzo

Autore:

Cambiaso, Luca

Object Type:

drawing

Epoca:

Inventario:

D 1844

Misure:

Unità di misura: mm; Altezza: 283; Larghezza: 250

Tecnica:

Penna e inchiostro metallogallico

Ultimi prestiti:

Odessa, Mosca, Leningrado - 1985

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St John the Baptist

Descrizione:

Cut down in the past, this sheet probably constitutes the preparatory study for a 'Nativity' or a 'Holy Conversation', also in view of the ecstatic attitude of the figure of the Baptist. Due to the careful anatonomic investigation and the svelte style and monumental register of the figure, the work can be referred to the first phase of Cambiaso's production. (BOCCARDO, 1999) The drawing depicts Saint John the Baptist with a lamb at his side.

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Titolo dell'opera:

Soldiers counting money

Acquisizione:

Marcello Durazzo

Autore:

Guercino, Barbieri Giovanni Francesco

Object Type:

drawing

Epoca:

Inventario:

D1716

Misure:

Unità di misura: mm; Altezza: 210; Larghezza: 275

Tecnica:

penna e inchiostro

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Soldiers counting money

Descrizione:

Anonymous in the Durazzo inventory, the drawing is now ascribed to Guercino, starting with the then still dubious attribution by Mario Bonzi. The genre subject, 'Soldiers counting money', does not currently find any correspondence within the artist's pictorial production, while two different copies, also in drawing, are known to exist, conserved in the Albertina in Vienna (inv. 2370) and in the Pinacoteca di Brera (inv. 340/ID), both attributed to the so-called 'Falsario del Guercino', an 18th century imitator of the master. (BOCCARDO, 1992) The drawing depicts two soldiers sitting and counting money.

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Titolo dell'opera:

The prophet Zechariah \ The prophet Jeremiah

Acquisizione:

Marcello Durazzo in precedenza coll. C. Nic

Autore:

Guercino, Barbieri Giovanni Francesco

Object Type:

drawing

Epoca:

Inventario:

D1118

Misure:

Unità di misura: mm; Altezza: 240; Larghezza: 172

Tecnica:

Matita rossa

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The prophet Zechariah \ The prophet Jeremiah

Descrizione:

The drawing is preparatory for one of the figures of prophets frescoed by Guercino in 1626 on the dome of Piacenza Cathedral. The sheet, drawn on both sides, features portraits of two prophets. On the front, the prophet Zechariah is depicted with his arms raised and a bearded face, while the back shows the prophet Jeremiah in a pensive pose.

Foto di Studio di nudo: giovane disteso davanti a una siepe

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Titolo dell'opera:

Male nude lying in front of a hedge

Acquisizione:

Marcello Durazzo

Autore:

Guercino, Barbieri Giovanni Francesco

Object Type:

drawing

Epoca:

Inventario:

D1703

Misure:

Unità di misura: mm; Altezza: 375; Larghezza: 565

Tecnica:

cartoncino grasso

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Male nude lying in front of a hedge

Descrizione:

The collection of drawings and prints of the Emilian school in the Gabinetto Disegni e Stampe di Palazzo Rosso is one of the most important on an international level: it consists of around 300 sheets, donated in 1848 to the city's collections by the Genoese nobleman Marcello Durazzo (1790-1848) - a refined and expert connoisseur of ancient graphics - who, while staying in Bologna, had acquired, through the last heirs of Guercino and his pupils and grandsons Benedetto and Cesare Gennari, autograph sheets by the master or belonging to his workshop. Among others, the large nude study presented here, formerly the property of Cesare Gennari (1637-1688), stands out for its 'modernity' and timeless beauty: in greased charcoal on grey paper, it is an example of the artist's graphic style capable of seductive softness and skilful shading, with atmospheric and 'painterly' results even in monochrome, perhaps reminiscent of the lesson of the tonal painting of the Venetians, from Palma to Titian, so important for the artist from his youth. Moreover, we know from sources that it was precisely at this time, between 1616 and 1618, that the artist would have animated an 'Academy of the Nude' in Cento, his home town, for the practice of drawing. It is probably a live study, due to the immediacy with which the little wall, beehive, grass and fence on which the bird rests lightly are rendered in the background. The drawing depicts a naked male figure lying down.

Foto di Studio per la pala di Santa Maria della Pietà detta la “Pala dei Mendicanti”

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Titolo dell'opera:

Study for the Beggars' Pieta

Acquisizione:

Marcello Durazzo

Autore:

Reni, Guido

Object Type:

drawing

Epoca:

Inventario:

D2797

Misure:

Unità di misura: mm; Altezza: 290; Larghezza: 185

Tecnica:

penna e inchiostro

Ultimi prestiti:

Mostra di Guido Reni - Bologna - 1954
Guido Reni - Bologna - 1988
Guido Reni und Europa - Frankfurt - 1988
Maestri del disegno - Genova - 1990
Guido Reni The divine - Frankfurt - 2022/2023

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Study for the Beggars' Pieta

Descrizione:

The drawing is the last of three projects kept at the Gabinetto Disegni e Stampe di Palazzo Rosso, made by Reni at the end of 1613 for the altarpiece of the church of Santa Maria della Pietà. The latter, only completed in 1616 with some variations to the present drawing, was commissioned to him on the occasion of a complex programme of reorganisation of Bologna's welfare structures. Study for the Beggars' Pieta.

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Titolo dell'opera:

The Three Graces

Acquisizione:

Santo Varni

Autore:

De Ferrari, Lorenzo

Object Type:

drawing

Epoca:

Inventario:

D 2147

Misure:

Unità di misura: mm; Altezza: 650; Larghezza: 400

Tecnica:

matita nera

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The Three Graces

Descrizione:

The sheet is one of several drawings, belonging to the civic collections, by Lorenzo De Ferrari, preparatory to the decoration of the Galleria dorata in Palazzo Tobia Pallavicini. (Carrega-Cataldi, today Chamber of Commerce, Genoa). See for further details BOCCARDO 1999, cat. 79, and BOCCARDO, in I Protagonisti. Capolavori a Genova 1600-1750, 2022, cat. 9, p. 184) The Three Graces.

Foto di Progetto di decorazione di parete

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Titolo dell'opera:

Project for the decoration of a mezzanine wall

Acquisizione:

Giovanni Battista Villa

Autore:

De Ferrari, Gregorio

Object Type:

drawing

Epoca:

Inventario:

D 3492

Misure:

Unità di misura: mm; Altezza: 292; Larghezza: 437

Tecnica:

penna e inchiostro

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Project for the decoration of a mezzanine wall

Descrizione:

Among Gregorio De Ferrari's most scenographic and personal sheets are certainly his refined projects for interior decoration, of which the drawing under examination is an exemplary model: these are preparatory studies for the layout and furnishing of walls and, sometimes, portions of vaults in noble rooms, for which the artist studies on paper architectural scores, stucco ornaments, the shape and arrangement of squares for mirrors and paintings. In a fully Baroque perspective, Gregorio imagines every detail of these spectacular 'wings', including furnishing and decorative elements to be then translated into different materials and by other hands: not only painting, therefore, but also stucco, carved and gilded wood, glass. The decorative repertoire is that of the late 17th century, but with a sensitivity and grace that already anticipates the following century, with an abundance of volutes, curls, cartouches and phytomorphic whorls, arranged on the paper in symmetrical solutions, as in this case, or in alternative proposals to be submitted to the client, as in the case of the beautiful sheet, still in the Genoese civic collections, with a Project for the decoration of the hall and vault with a mythological scene (Fall of Icarus?) (inv. D2159), very finished and perhaps intended as a model to be kept in the workshop for possible new requests. Of the drawing in question, we know in detail the occasion of commissioning, destination and final realisation, albeit in forms that are not entirely consistent with those of the model on paper. In fact, in the sheet we recognise a rather advanced design idea for one of the rooms in the flat of Anton Giulio II Brignole Sale in the mezzanine of Palazzo Rosso, and precisely for the first of the three rooms that can be traced back to the decorative intervention of the first decade of the 18th century. The dining room, known as 'della grotta', and the bedroom, frescoed and furnished under the direction of Domenico Parodi and again by Gregorio De Ferrari, are also preserved from this phase of work in the 'Mezzarie'. All the work had to be completed by 1710, the year of Brignole-Sale's death, whose figures are painted, in medallions, on the doors of the entire flat, within a complex and very early chinoiserie decoration very different from the phytomorphic spirals sketched on the doors of Gregorio's design. (PRIARONE, in MUSEI SUPERBI, 2022) Project for the decoration of a mezzanine wall.

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