Michelangelo Buonarroti: Bust of a Youth and Caricature Head of an Old Man both in left profile, ca. 1530. Black chalk on tan paper. Gift of Frank Jewett Mather Jr. Courtesy of the Princeton University Art Museum.

PRINCETON, NJ.- More than 90 rarely seen masterworks by legendary artists from the 15th through the early 20th centuries, including Carpaccio, Michelangelo, Tiepolo and Modigliani, will be on view beginning Jan. 25 as part of the Princeton University Art Museum’s special exhibition 500 Years of Italian Master Drawings from the Princeton University Art Museum. A fresh examination of Italian draftsmanship, the exhibition unveils significant new research and insights on the Museum’s collection of more than 1,000 Italian drawings, which is widely considered to be one of the finest collections of its kind in the U.S. The exhibition will be on view from Jan. 25 through May 11, 2014, and is accompanied by an extensive scholarly catalogue, Italian Master Drawings from the Princeton University Art Museum. 

“First and foremost this is an opportunity for sheer visual pleasure,” said Museum Director James Steward. “Princeton’s outstanding collection of Italian drawings is widely known to scholars but deserves a broader audience. Through this project we are able to offer new insights into the creative processes of many of the greatest artists of Italian history and to inspire not only drawings experts but also anyone who treasures art on an intimate scale that rewards close looking.” 

Curated by Laura Giles, the Heather and Paul G. Haaga Jr., Class of 1970, Curator of Prints and Drawings at the Princeton University Art Museum, the exhibition presents Italian draftsmanship from the early Renaissance to early Modernism. Artists in the exhibition include Barocci, Bernini, Cambiaso, Carpaccio, Annibale Carracci, Cortona, Guercino, Michelangelo, Modigliani, Parmigianino, Rosa, Giambattista and Domenico Tiepolo, Tintoretto and Veronese. 

The exhibition is divided into thematic sections that examine drawing technique, studying the masters, the design process, the human body, human expression and collecting and connoisseurship, with in-depth consideration of the figural works of Luca Cambiaso, Guercino and Giambattista Tiepolo, each of whom is richly represented. Beyond its chronological and stylistic sweep, this panoramic exhibition provides dazzling examples of the pivotal role played by drawing, or “disegno,” in Italian intellectual and artistic life, both as a form of mark-making and as an overall design concept. 

Among the highlights of the exhibition are two standing Middle Eastern women by Venetian artist Vittore Carpaccio (circa 1501–08); an elegant torso of a man in armor by the mannerist master Parmigianino (circa 1521–22); the rare brush drawing Saint Herculianus Visited by an Angel by celebrated Venetian painter Veronese (circa 1586–87); a rare red chalk study of a nude by the groundbreaking Baroque prodigy Gian Lorenzo Bernini (circa 1618–24); Giambattista Tiepolo’s dynamic Seated Woman and Satyr on Clouds (circa 1740); and a languorous female nude by early modernist Amedeo Modigliani (circa 1914). 

Many of the drawings in the exhibition have benefited from new research and discoveries concerning attribution, iconography, date, function and provenance. One of the noteworthy findings is the discovery, first made in the 1990s, of an architectural sketch by Michelangelo on the reverse side of a study of heads that had been tentatively associated with the artist. The ground plan for a chapel in Santa Maria Maggiore was revealed through infrared reflectography, thus confirming the attribution as a work by one of the great masters of the Renaissance. 

Authored and edited by Giles, the accompanying catalogue includes an important overview of the collection and its history by Giles and entries by Lia Markey, Princeton University Lecturer in the Department of Art and Archaeology, and independent writer and scholar Claire Van Cleave, with additional contributions by other leading specialists in the field. The publication is the first since 1977 to focus on the Museum’s expansive collection of Italian drawings and received major funding from the Getty Foundation. 

In addition to the publication, the Museum’s online collections catalogue will be updated with new research and high-resolution images, providing global access to the Museum’s significant holdings of Italian drawings. 

500 Years of Italian Master Drawings from the Princeton University Art Museum has been made possible by generous support from Diane W. Burke; Susan and John Diekman, Class of 1965; John H. Rassweiler; the Allen R. Adler, Class of 1967, Exhibitions Fund; The Peter Jay Sharp Foundation; the Caroline G. Mather Fund; the Apparatus Fund; Marco Grassi, Class of 1956; the New Jersey State Council on the Arts/Department of State, a Partner Agency of the National Endowment for the Arts; and the Partners and Friends of the Princeton University Art Museum. The publication has been made possible, in part, by the Getty Foundation; the Barr Ferree Foundation Fund for Publications, Department of Art and Archaeology, Princeton University; and the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, with additional support provided by Anne Searle Bent. 

Style of Altichiero (II) of Zevio, Italian, ca. 1320 - ca. 1385, The Coronation of the Virgin; Verso: Horse and Rider, ca. 1430. Pen and brown ink with brush and brown wash over traces of red chalk (over traces of black chalk on verso) heightened with lead white, on beige laid paper, prepared with light brown wash, inlaid to cream (modern) laid paper, 16.3 x 19.2 cm. (6 7/16 x 7 9/16 in.); verso: 9.5 x 14.3 cm. (3 3/4 x 5 5/8 in.). Gift of Frank Jewett Mather Jr.  Courtesy of the Princeton University Art Museum. 

Vittore Carpaccio, Italian, 1460/66–1525/26, Two Standing Egyptian Women; Verso: Head of a Man and Head of a Lion, 1495–1516. Pen and dark brown ink, brush and pale gray-brown wash heightened with white gouache over black chalk (recto); black chalk, brush and pale gray-brown wash heightened with white gouache on light brown laid paper (verso); 23.2 x 12.1 cm. (9 1/8 x 4 3/4 in.); frame: 53.1 x 40.5 x 3.7 cm. Gift of Frank Jewett Mather Jr. Photo Bruce M. White. Courtesy of the Princeton University Art Museum.

Marcantonio Raimondi, Italian, 1470/80–1527/34, after Albrecht Dürer, German, 1471–1528, Adam, c. 1501-08. Pen and brown ink on light tan laid paper, 19.5 x 10.9 cm. (7 11/16 x 4 5/16 in.). Gift of Frank Jewett Mather Jr. Photo Bruce M. White. Courtesy of the Princeton University Art Museum.

Domenico Campagnola, Italian, 1500–1564, Legendary or Mythological Scene, c. 1520. Pen and brown ink with brush and brown wash, 22.2 x 24.1 cm. (8 3/4 x 9 1/2 in.). Gift of Frank Jewett Mather Jr. Courtesy of the Princeton University Art Museum.

Baccio Bandinelli, Italian, 1493–1560, Sketches of a Standing Male Nude, Seated Male Nude, and Bust of a Woman; verso: Three Putti, ca. 1520-1529. Pen and brown ink on laid paper, 33.2 x 23.9 cm. (13 1/16 x 9 7/16 in.). The John B. Elliott, Class of 1951, Collection. Courtesy of the Princeton University Art Museum.

Domenico Beccafumi, Italian, 1484 - 1551, Head of a Putto, 1527–1537. Brush and oil paint on brown laid paper, 20.7 x 17.4 cm. (8 1/8 x 6 7/8 in.). Bequest of Dan Fellows Platt, Class of 1895. Courtesy of the Princeton University Art Museum.

Domenico Beccafumi, Italian, 1484 - 1551, Head of a Woman, ca. 1529-1535. Brush and oil paint on brown laid paper,22.7 x 16.3 cm. (8 15/16 x 6 7/16 in.). Bequest of Dan Fellows Platt, Class of 1895. Courtesy of the Princeton University Art Museum. 

Parmigianino, Italian, 1503–1540, Torso of a man in armor, rear view. Pen and brown ink, brown wash, highlighted with white ink on pink prepared paper, 21.1 x 10.6 cm. (8 5/16 x 4 3/16 in.). Gift of Frank Jewett Mather Jr. Courtesy of the Princeton University Art Museum. 

Battista Franco, Italian, ca. 1510 - d. 1561, Dead Christ supported by an Angel. Pen and brown ink on cream laid paper, 16.7 x 11.9 cm. (6 9/16 x 4 11/16 in.). Museum purchase, Laura P. Hall Memorial Fund. Courtesy of the Princeton University Art Museum. 

Pordenone (Giovanni Antonio de Sacchis), Italian, 1483/4–1539, Standing Saint Roch, ca. 1525–26. Red chalk on cream laid paper, squared in red chalk, 26.3 x 15.6 cm. (10 3/8 x 6 1/8 in.). Bequest of Dan Fellows Platt, Class of 1895. Courtesy of the Princeton University Art Museum. 

Giacomo Francia, Italian, before 1486 - 1557, Cleopatra. Pen and brown ink, with border in darker brown ink, 26.1 x 18.5 cm. (10 1/4 x 7 5/16 in.). Gift of Frank Jewett Mather Jr. Courtesy of the Princeton University Art Museum.

Luca Cambiaso, Italian, 1527–1585, The Stigmatization of St. Francis. Pen and brown ink and brush and brown wash, 33.3 x 24.9 cm. (13 1/8 x 9 13/16 in.); frame: 54.3 x 41.6 cm. (21 3/8 x 16 3/8 in.). Bequest of Dan Fellows Platt, Class of 1895. Photo Bruce M. White. Courtesy of the Princeton University Art Museum.

Luca Cambiaso, Italian, 1527–1585, Female figure holding an oblong object (Fortitude?). Pen and iron gall ink, 40 x 22.6 cm. (15 3/4 x 8 7/8 in.); frame: 54.3 x 41.6 cm. (21 3/8 x 16 3/8 in.). Bequest of Dan Fellows Platt, Class of 1895. Photo Bruce M. White. Courtesy of the Princeton University Art Museum.

Luca Cambiaso, Italian, 1527–1585,  Sibyl Attended by a Genius Seated on a Cloud, ca. 1555–59. Pen and iron gall ink over traces of black chalk on beige laid paper, 40.2 x 28.2 cm. (15 13/16 x 11 1/8 in.); frame: 54.3 x 41.6 cm. (21 3/8 x 16 3/8 in.). Bequest of Dan Fellows Platt, Class of 1895. Photo Bruce M. White. Courtesy of the Princeton University Art Museum.

Luca Cambiaso, Italian, 1527–1585, Silenus Drinking. Pen and brown ink over traces of black chalk on pieced tan laid paper, 31.7 x 14.9 cm. (12 1/2 x 5 7/8 in.). Gift of Dan Fellows Platt, Class of 1895. Photo Bruce M. White. Courtesy of the Princeton University Art Museum.

Luca Cambiaso, Italian, 1527–1585, The Return of Ulysses, 1565-66. Pen and brown ink with brush and brown wash on cream laid paper, squared in red chalk, 19.7 x 34.4 cm. (7 3/4 x 13 9/16 in.). Laura P. Hall Memorial Collection. Photo Bruce M. White. Courtesy of the Princeton University Art Museum.

Giovanni Paolo Lomazzo, Italian, 1538 - 1600, Recto: foreshortened draped man looking up: study for Prophet; Verso: foreshortened nude man with arms uplifted looking up: study for Prophet, 1565-71. Black chalk with touches of red chalk, and pen and brown ink, brush and brown wash on cream laid paper, squared in black chalk; Verso: pen and brown ink, 19.1 x 12 cm. (7 1/2 x 4 3/4 in.). Gift of Frank Jewett Mather Jr. Photo Bruce M. White. Courtesy of the Princeton University Art Museum.

Paolo Veronese, Italian, 1528–1588, St. Herculianus Visited by an Angel, 1586-87. Brush and iron gall ink over black chalk, with traces of white chalk, on blue laid paper, 29.3 x 21.8 cm. (11 9/16 x 8 9/16 in.). Gift of Frank Jewett Mather Jr. Courtesy of the Princeton University Art Museum.

Bartolomeo Passarotti, Italian, 1529 - 1592, Head of Christ with a Medallion of the Trinity. Pen and brown ink over black chalk on cream laid paper, 46 x 36.4 cm. (18 1/8 x 14 5/16 in.).Gift of Joseph F. McCrindle in honor of Allen Rosenbaum. Courtesy of the Princeton University Art Museum.

Cesare Nebbia, Italian, ca. 1536 - 1614, recto: Young man supporting himself on a column and stepping around it; verso: The same figure repeated, partially finished. Red chalk on blue laid paper, inlaid to ivory wove paper, 38.5 x 24.6 cm. (15 3/16 x 9 11/16 in.). Gift of Frank Jewett Mather Jr. Courtesy of the Princeton University Art Museum.

Federico Barocci, Italian, Urbino, 1535–1612, Studies for Saint Sebastian, ca. 1590–96. Black, white and red chalk on light brown prepared laid paper, 41.8 x 27.3 cm. (16 7/16 x 10 3/4 in.). Gift of Dan Fellows Platt, Class of 1895. Courtesy of the Princeton University Art Museum.

Annibale Carracci, Italian, 1560 – 1609, Two Standing Women and a Reclining Male Nude, ca. 1596–97; Pen and iron gall ink over traces of red chalk on beige laid pape; restored/extended: 17.2 x 16.6 cm. (6 3/4 x 6 9/16 in.); Museum purchase, Fowler McCormick, Class of 1921, Fund 2008-43; Courtesy of the Princeton University Art Museum.

Ercole Bazicaluva, Italian, ca. 1600 - after 1641, Pesaro, ca. 1600. Pen and brown ink, 14.7 x 21.9 cm. (5 13/16 x 8 5/8 in.). Gift of Deborah Strom Gibbons, Graduate School Class of 1979, in memory of alumni and a friend of the Dept. of Art and Archaeology who have died of AIDS: Guy Bauman, Grad. School Class of 1977, W. Stephen Gardner, Grad. School Class of 1976, Richard C.P. Courtesy of the Princeton University Art Museum. 

Gian Lorenzo Bernini, Italian, 1598–1680: Seated Male Nude, ca. 1618–24. Red chalk, heightened with white, on buff laid paper. Museum purchase, Laura P. Hall Memorial Fund and Fowler McCormick, Class of 1921, Fund (2005-128). Photo Bruce M. White. Courtesy of the Princeton University Art Museum.

Remigio Cantagallina: Scene of a Village Square in Tuscany, 1633. Brown ink and brown wash over black chalk and Graphite on light tan paper. Museum purchase, Laura P. Hall Memorial Fund. Courtesy of the Princeton University Art Museum. 

Guercino (Giovanni Francesco Barbieri), Italian, 1591–1666, Boy in a large hat, ca. 1635. Pen and brown ink and brush and brown wash on cream laid paper, 16.5 x 12.1 cm. (6 1/2 x 4 3/4 in.). Bequest of Dan Fellows Platt, Class of 1895. Photo Bruce M. White. Courtesy of the Princeton University Art Museum.

Guercino (Giovanni Francesco Barbieri), Italian, 1591–1666, Woman with deformed lips; Verso: landscape. Pen, brown ink, brush brown wash on cream laid paper, 16.7 x 16.5 cm. (6 9/16 x 6 1/2 in.). Bequest of Dan Fellows Platt, Class of 1895. Courtesy of the Princeton University Art Museum.

Guercino (Giovanni Francesco Barbieri), Italian, 1591–1666. Study for the Martyrdom of Saint Bartholomew, 1635–36. Pen and brown ink and brush and brown wash on cream laid paper, 20.3 x 25.5 cm. (8 x 10 1/16 in.). Bequest of Dan Fellows Platt, Class of 1895.Photo Bruce M. White. Courtesy of the Princeton University Art Museum.

Pietro da Cortona (Pietro Berrettini), Italian, 1596–1669, Study for the Age of Iron, ca. 1637. Pen and brown ink over red chalk, 31.2 x 26.1 cm. (12 5/16 x 10 1/4 in.). Bequest of Dan Fellows Platt, Class of 1895. Photo Bruce M. White. Courtesy of the Princeton University Art Museum.

Giovanni Francesco Barbieri, called Il Guercino, Man Reading a Book, ca. 1640. Brown ink on beige paper. Gift of Dan Fellows Platt, Class of 1895. Photo Bruce M. White. Courtesy of the Princeton University Art Museum.

Carlo Dolci, Italian, 1616 - 1686, Study for Saint John the Evangelist, c. 1671. Black chalk heightened with red chalk, 19.4 x 21.4 cm. (7 5/8 x 8 7/16 in.). Bequest of Dan Fellows Platt, Class of 1895. Photo Bruce M. White. Courtesy of the Princeton University Art Museum.

Giuseppe Passeri, Italian, 1654 - 1715, Madonna and Child in Glory, Attended by a Company of Angels, ca. 1700. Pen and brown ink, red chalk, and red wash heightened with white on cream laid paper (cut to elaborate shape), squared in black chalk, 43 x 29.9 cm. (16 15/16 x 11 3/4 in.). Museum purchase, The Laura P. Hall Memorial Fund and Fowler McCormick, Class of 1921, Fund. Courtesy of the Princeton University Art Museum.

Donato Creti, Italian, 1671 - 1749, Four Studies of Jacob Wrestling with the Angel. Pen and brown ink, 21.6 x 24.3 cm (8 1/2 x 9 9/16 in.). Gift of Nathan V. Hammer. Courtesy of the Princeton University Art Museum.

Carlo Marchionni, Italian, 1702–1786, Design for the chapel of Saint Ferma. Pen and brown ink and gray wash over black chalk on cream-colored laid paper, 49 x 37 cm. (19 5/16 x 14 9/16 in.). Museum purchase, Laura P. Hall Memorial Fund and Felton Gibbons Fund. Courtesy of the Princeton University Art Museum.

Giovanni Battista Tiepolo, 1696–1770, Roman Soldier, 1720—22. Red chalk wash over black chalk on beige paper. Gift of Dan Fellows Platt, Class of 1895. Photo Bruce M. White. Courtesy of the Princeton University Art Museum. 

Giovanni Battista Tiepolo, Italian, 1696–1770, Seated Woman and Satyr on Clouds, ca. 1740. Pen and brown ink and brush and brown wash, over black chalk, on cream laid paper, 28.4 x 36.2 cm. (11 3/16 x 14 1/4 in.). Gift of Frank Jewett Mather Jr. Photo Bruce M. White. Courtesy of the Princeton University Art Museum.

Domenico Tiepolo, Italian, 1727–1804, The Doctor's Visit, ca. 1790. Pen and brown ink and brown and gray-brown wash, over black chalk, on cream laid paper, 35.1 x 47.8 cm. (13 13/16 x 18 13/16 in.). Bequest of Dan Fellows Platt, Class of 1895. Photo Bruce M. White. Courtesy of the Princeton University Art Museum. 

Domenico Mondo, Italian, 1723 - 1806, Apelles Painting Campaspe, ca. 1790. Pen and brown ink and brush and brown and gray wash, with red chalk, on cream laid paper, 18.8 x 28.1 cm. (7 3/8 x 11 1/16 in.). Museum purchase, Felton Gibbons Fund. Courtesy of the Princeton University Art Museum. 

Domenico Tiepolo, Italian, 1727–1804, Centaur and Satyr couple at play. Pen and brown ink, brown and gray wash over black chalk on off-white laid paper, 19.2 x 27 cm. (7 9/16 x 10 5/8 in.). Bequest of Dan Fellows Platt, Class of 1895. Photo Bruce M. White. Courtesy of the Princeton University Art Museum. 

Gaetano Previati, Italian, 1852 - 1920, The Monatti (illustration to Alessandro Manzoni's I Promessi Sposi), ca. 1895–99. Pen and black ink with gray and brown wash heightened with white gouache on buff wove paper, 23.9 x 32.2 cm. (9 7/16 x 12 11/16 in.). Museum purchase, Felton Gibbons Fund. Photo Bruce M. White. Courtesy of the Princeton University Art Museum.

Amedeo Modigliani, Italian, 1884–1920, Anadiomena, 1914. Graphite with embossed and incised lines, on thin white wove paper, 33.9 x 26.5 cm. (13 3/8 x 10 7/16 in.). Bequest of Dan Fellows Platt, Class of 1895. Courtesy of the Princeton University Art Museum.

Amedeo Modigliani, Italian, 1884–1920, Male head. Pen and black ink on thin off-white graph paper, 21.2 x 27.1 cm. (8 3/8 x 10 11/16 in.). Bequest of Dan Fellows Platt, Class of 1895. Courtesy of the Princeton University Art Museum.