Hercules with a Distaff, Surrounded by Putti, late 1620s by Pietro da Cortona (Italian, 1596-1669), red chalk on laid paper, mounted. On extended loan from Mr. John D. Reilly '63, L1997.012.001

NOTRE DAME, IN.- The Snite Museum of Art opens the exhibition Italian Drawings Seminar Exhibition in the Scholz Family Works on Paper Gallery. This exhibition will present sixteenth-and seventeenth-century drawings by Italian masters that have been studied and investigated by students at the University of Notre Dame.

The acknowledgment of drawing as fundamental to the creative process and the appreciation of its status as an independent aesthetic endeavor have their origins in the Italian Renaissance. Seventeenth-century drawings also served a wide range of purposes for the Baroque artist, as they had for the artists of the Renaissance. For example, drawings were always ways for artists to "think out loud" on paper (studi, schizzi or pensieri), and as such they offer intimate views of working methods. In some cases, artists inscribe their drawings to further instruct a client or an assistant about proper scale or materials. Sometimes an artist authenticated a drawing with a signature. Other drawings are fully realized compositions that may be intended to inform a patron about a proposed design.

The drawings in this exhibition are a selection from the John D. Reilly'63. Collection of Old Master Drawings. Because undergraduate research projects are important to the academic goals of the University, a seminar was offered that allowed students the opportunity to examine and research these art objects as well as introduce them to the world of special collections where particular care is given to the conservation of works on paper, and where instruction is given in the appropriate ways to study drawings. The results of the students' research on each of the nineteen works will be published in an exhibition catalogue available at the exhibition.