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).

STANFORD, CA.- Nearly 100 masterworks from the 15th through the 20th centuries—accompanied by new research and fresh insights—went on view at the Cantor Arts Center May 22 in 500 Years of Italian Master Drawings from the Princeton University Art Museum. The exhibition, which is organized thematically, includes a markedly broad spectrum of works, ranging from the early Renaissance to early Modernism. As such it is a panoramic depiction of the pivotal role played by drawing, or “disegno,” in the Italian design process. In that process, drawing encompasses both the mental formulation and the physical act of creation and focuses on the human figure. 

This major traveling exhibition features rarely seen highlights by such artists as Michelangelo, Barocci, Bernini, Carpaccio, Annibale Carracci, Guercino, Modigliani, Parmigianino, Giambattista and Domenico Tiepolo, Tintoretto and Veronese. Many of the drawings have benefited from new discoveries concerning attribution, iconography, date, function and provenance. Among 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 an unrealized chapel was revealed through infrared reflectography. 

Giovanni Battista Tiepolo (Venice 1696–1770), Roman Soldier, 1720–22. Brush and red chalk wash, over black chalk, on beige laid paper, 10-3/8 x 7-1/8 in. Princeton University Art Museum, Bequest of Dan Fellows Platt, Class of 1895.

Several of the rich moments in the exhibition derive from cross-historical pairings that show how young artists copied from the masters as a way of practicing before they drew from life. The pairings also emphasize the relationship of drawing to prints, prints being the first mass-produced images widely circulated. Further, the pairings illustrate the ill will that sometimes ensued in the “culture of copying” rife during the Renaissance. 

Connie Wolf, the Cantor’s John & Jill Freidenrich Director, says, “This extraordinary exhibition underlines how important university art museums are—how deep they can go with their collections and their scholarship and how dedicated they are to sharing their resources with students, faculty, and the public across the country, if not the world. We are thrilled that our partnership with the Princeton University Art Museum will allow our visitors to see this very special exhibition.” 

A fully illustrated catalogue, Italian Master Drawings from the Princeton University Art Museum, accompanies the exhibition. The catalogue is authored and edited by Laura Giles, the Heather and Paul G. Haaga, Jr. (Princeton, ’70) Curator of Prints and Drawings at the Princeton University Art Museum. Other contributors include Princeton University Lecturer in the Department of Art & Archaeology Lia Markey and independent writer and scholar Claire Van Cleave.

Gaetano Previati, The Monatti, illustration to Alessandro Manzoni’s I Promessi Sposi, c. 1895–99. Watercolor, heightened with white gouache, on light brown wove paper. 9-1/8 x 12-11/16 in. Princeton University Art Museum, Museum purchase, Felton Gibbons Fund.