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120 Main Street, Upton MA 01568-6193; 800-809-3343; email sptwd@verizon.net
Last updated: 5-21-11
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“Old Master Drawings from the late 15th-century to the late 18th”
"Claude Garache (French, b. 1929): A Selection of Paintings, Aquatints, and a Drawing"
Garache Paintings / Garache Drawings / Garache Drawings 2
Garache Suite Rouge Sur Ingres Rose / Garache Suite Vermillon Sur Ingres Gris_clair / Garache Ebauche du feminin
Garache Lithographs 4
Aquatints 1: 1965-72 / Aquatints 2: 1972-77 / Aquatints 3: 1977-80 / Aquatints 4: 1980-83
Aquatints 5: 1983-88 / Aquatints 6: 1987-91 / Aquatints 7: 1991-97 / Garache Specials: Bleue V & VI
Gallery Tour I: Italian Renaissance Drawings + Garache Paintings and Aquatints
View from the corner of Maple and Main St (also known as Highway 140).
Entrance
Beginning at the front door (guarded by Mike Weber's ceramic sculpture Watchbeast), we present one black chalk drawing and seven red-chalk drawings that apear to have been strongly influenced by the Carracci, Ludovico (Bologna, 1555 - 1619), and his two cousins, Annibale (Bologna, 1560-1609), and Agostino (Bologna, 1557-1602). All of these were originally part of the same collection and were mounted similarly on their original mounts. See the next image below for the other half of the entry. Beginning at left, we present a young man, two women, and an oldman; beneath them, three babies, two of whom strike us a as studies for chrubs, and one (the middle one), a sqirmy infant similar to one of Ludovico's presentations of the Christ Child, seems more likely to be a representation of a young child. For larger photographs and complete descriptions, please click here and scroll down towards the bottom of the web-page.
Starting here at the midpoint of the wall, we present a small black chalk of drawing of the Ttrinity (complete with triangular halo), two reddish-orange-chalk drawings, perhaps by Annibale, based upon an engraving by Aegidius Sadeler (c. 1570-1630) after Jacopo Palma il Giovanne (Venice, 1548-1628)'s now-lost drawing of The Martyrdom of St. Sebastian (click here for a discussion of the work and an introduction to Annibale Carracci). The two parts of our drawing are taken quite accurately from Aegidius's engraving. Beneath them, we present three studies of young men, one of whom has an arrow protruding from his breast, all apparently by the same artist, and all apparently studies for a St. Sebastian. Next to the two drawings on the top row, we present a drawing, here attributed to Odoardo Fialetti (Bologna 1573-1638 Venice), on the verso of an engraving by Agostino Carracci of Venus Chastizing Cupid (B. 135, Bohlin 182), c. 1590-1595 (click here (coming soon!) for Agostino's engraving and an introduction to the series from from which it came. Fialetti has drawn on the back of the engraving, tracing over the very-mannerist presentation of Venus spanking her son, which he transforms and uses as the basis for his own composition, possibly intended for one of his engravings for the Scherzi d'Amore / The Sport of Love (Bartsch 6-19). Fialetti had collaborated with Palma Giovanne in a treatise for professional artists on how to reproduce all the parts of the body (Venice, 1608) and seems clearly interested in Agostino, whose very popular Lascivie were condemned by the Pope. At the top of the sheet, someone has ascribed the drawing to "Odoardo Fialetti," an attribution we accept (click here for a better image and more details). At the left side of the bottom row, we present a very nice drawing of Ceres; click here for details (its close to the bottom of the page).
Turning to the left, we offer six large drawings: a pastoral scene here attributed to Matteo Rosselli (Italian, 1578-1651), Woman and child asleep in a landscape. Red chalk on cream laid paper, c. 1610. Next, a very beautiful drawing by Perino del Vaga, one of Raphael's assistants, depicting the virtue of Fortitude; next to it, a presentation (or chiaroscuro) drawing by Veronese of The Madonna as a Seamstress: one of Veronese's most famous drawings, a rectangular version of this work is in the Louvre. Ours, on paper with a watermark very similar to two 1570 watermarks, is quite splendid! Next to it we present a Pieta after after an engraving by Agostino Carracci after a painting by Veronese that seems to have been one of a series of works engraved by Agostino with Veronese's consent. As in the case of the Annibale drawings after the Aegidius Sadeler engraving after the (lost) drawing by Palma Giovane, drawing seems sometimes to be a means for an artist to digest the works of thers and make them his own. Moving on, we come to a one of a number of French drawings on display, Etienne Parrocel called "Le Romain" (French, 1696-1776), Mary Magdalen Embracing the Cross. Black & white chalk drawing on blueish green laid paper. Possibly a study in connection with the decoration of the dome of the Church of the Magdalen in Rome. For a better image of the drawing, click here. Finally, we present a large sanguine drawing of The Glorification of the Virgin signed F. Zanara (Italian, active late 17th century) for a ceiling painting. Note the correction on the sheet of paper inserted into the drawing.
When we first hung this show, it contained only the old master drawings, but the blank spaces above them began to irritate me (I was taught many years ago that nature abhors a vacuum; perhaps all that unfilled space began to seem like a vacuum, a lost possibility). At any rate, the idea of showing works by one of our favorite artists, Claude Garache, leapt into my head and took over. Beneath this very early painting by Garache, Dos de Victoire, we find works associated with Raphael, one of the most classical high Renaissance artists, Giulio Romano (the only artist Shakespeare ever mentions by name), Raphael's heir and the chief of his assistants who, after his death, became the chief artist at the court of Mantua, and Parmigianino, one of the most revolutionary successors of Raphael. We also present a drawing, probably meant to be used by tapestry designers executing a large tapestry for an as-yet unidentified patron, probably by artists in Raphael's workshop. Most importantly, we present a drawing by Raphael himself,
Raphael Sanzio (Urbino 1483-1520 Rome), attributed, Seated figure. Red chalk on old laid paper, c. 1504. Inscribed "Raphael 103" top center; initialed "J[ohn]. F[laxman]." in black ink lower left corner. For a similar use of chalk to outline a figure, see Joannides 1983 #17, upper left. Provenance: a letter from Edward G. Hawks, a lawyer from Buffalo NY dated 12/25/1898 to James Dudley Hawks of Detroit MI, describing finding this and two other drawings loosely inserted in a 4-volume set of engravings of Herculaneum (Rome, 1789) with a note on the inside front cover, "Maria Denman–from her affectionate Brother [in-law] and Friend, John Flaxman." Flaxman (1755-1826) was the sculptor elected to the Royal Academy, in addition to being a successful sculptor, he provided drawings to be engraved by artists (including William Blake) illustrating various texts including the Iliad, the Odyssey, the works of Aeschylus, and the Divine Comedy. Flaxman was in Rome from 1787 to 1794, where he would have had access to drawings by Raphael; Flaxman's own drawings, "unusual at the time for being conceived almost entirely in terms of outline," (Grove Dictionary of Art 11: 162-65; here at 163) might well have made Raphael's drawings of interest to him not just aesthetically but also practically. According to Hawks, he sent this drawing and two others (one of which, The Adoration of the Magi, here attributed to Parmigianino, which Hawks calls the "The wise man's offering," we have also purchased) to his brother, "hoping they will afford you amusement and profit." Image size: 136x90mm. Price: $950,000.
On our 27"monitor, this is about life size. For a full discussion with supporting evidence, please click here.
A view of the left wall from the ladder showing some of the 176 works in our current show of old master drawings from the late 15th century to the late 18th and Claude Garache paintings, aquatints, and drawings. For full information and better photographs, please browse the Old Master Drawings pages and the Garache pages on our website.
Top row: Claude Garache, Levaloisienne (aquatint, 1965), Victoire (oil painting on paper mounted on canvas, 1959), Troussée II (aquatint, 1965); middle row: Drawings from Venice—Andrea Schiavone (2 on left) introduced Mannerism into Venice; middle: Veronese drawing after Albrecht Dürer's Pentescost from the Small Woodcut Passion, The Holy Family (with an old attribution to Tintoretto on the verso); Veronese (attributed), Juno and her peacock sitting on a cloud seen from the rear; bottom row: The Adoration of the Magi, a Woman looking over her right shoulder on laid paper with a treated blue surface which was popular in Venice in the 16th century, in the center, The Birth of the Virgin, pen and brown ink on wash with the numbner 36 top right in black ink (from an old collection) and "P. Veronese" in pencil bottom left-center; next to it, Allegorical Figures of Asia and Africa (brush, brown ink, wash, and black chalk by an unknown artist close to Veronese; and, at right, a drawing after Veronese's painting, Allegory of Wisdom and Strength, now in the Frick Museum in New York City; previously owned by the Emperor Rudolf II and looted from the Imoprerial Palace in Prague by soldiers of the Swedish Army in revenge for the death of King Gustavus Adolphus at the command of his widow, Queen Christiana.
Top row: Claude Garache, Gaume, an aquatint from 1972, Bouge (G. 428), a 1973 oil painting, and Haute Bouge, an aquatint from 1972; middle row: Antonio Busca (Milan, 1625-1684), Study of a Prophet (modeled, like so many drawings for frescoes tthat will move from the walls to the ceiling, by Michelangelo); Federico Zuccaro (Italian, 1540-1609), The Lamentation. Pen and reddish brown ink and gray wash and red chalk with white heightening on cream laid paper. Francesco Vanni (Siena, 1563-1610), St. Francis receiving the Stigmata (c. 1600), Pen and black ink, brown & gray wash, & white heightening; bottom row: Michelangelo (after), Clement VII Blessing (an early hand has inscribed "Michelangelo" beneath the drawing); Federico Zuccaro, Ceres; Alessandro Casolani, Studies of reclining figures (probably inspired by MIchelangelo's Sculpture of Nox / Night in the Medici Chapel (an early hand has inscribed "Michelangelo" on the verso of the drawing); Genoese School (late 16th century), A Sybil Holding a Book; 17th-century Italian, Time with his Scythe.
Top row: Claude Garache (France, b. 1929), Nouvelle Gaume, an aquatint from 1974, Bouge (G. 434), a 1973 oil painting, and Bouge Pauline, an aquatint from 1976; middle row: Ludovico Carracci (Bologna, 1625-1684), The Holy Family; Guercino (Giovanni Francesco Barbieri, 1591-1666), St. Peter (c. 1644), red chalk on laid paper; Guercino, St. Paul (Pen and brownish-red ink on cream laid paper c. 1644); Guercino, The Incredulity of St. Thomas, red chalk on laid paper; Guercino, attributed, The Rape of Europa, Pen and ink and wash on cream laid paper; bottom row: Domenichino, Studies for a St. Christopher, black and white chalk on tan paper, Domenichino, Head of an old man, c. 1620, black chalk drawing on gray laid paper; Simone Cantarini (Bologna, 1612-1648), The Holy Family and the Infant St. John the Baptist, pen and brown ink on cream laid paper, Simone Cantarini, St. John the Baptist in the Wilderness, red chalk on light tan laid paper; Simone Cantarini, Saint Apollonia, red chalk on laid paper laid down on heavy cream laid paper with a hand-drawn decorative border about the drawing. Inscribed "Simon da Pesaro" in ink lower center recto and "Apollonia" on the backing sheet beneath the drawing. According to an inscription on the mat verso, it was formerly owned by John Skippe.
At top: Giovanni Lanfranco (Bologna, 1582-1647), attributed, An Angel seen from behind, black chalk with white chalk heightening. A very assured drawing on grayish light blue laid paper. Lanfranco grew up in Parma with Corregio's works aroud him. He studied with Agostino Carracci and was influenced by the Carracci. He went to Rome in 1612 and began receiving commisions for altarpieces and ceiling paintings; Francesco Albani (Bologna, 1578-1660), attributed, Studies of Cherubs Holding a Drapery, black chalk on cream laid paper, early-mid 17th century. Studies of a monk and several male figures in black chalk verso. Albani trained with the Carracci family in Bologna then moved to Rome in 1601 and worked with Domenichino in Bologna, where he was one of the most successful painters; Pier Franceso Mola (Italian, 1612-1666), attributed, The Adoration of the Shepherds, pen and brown ink and wash on thin laid paper, c. 1650. Lower right corner detached, restored areas (verso) across the top of the drawing where the work was once glued down. Roseline Bacou, former curator of drawings at the Louvre, notes that "Mola did most of his early work in Northern Italy and did not go to Rome until 1642." She praises his "poetic evocations of landscape backgrounds." Bolognese School (early-mid 17th century), Lot and his daughters, pen and brown ink on cream laid paper, early-mid 17th century. At Abraham's urging, God selected Lot (Abraham's nephew) and his family as the only just people in Sodom to be saved. Although he warned them not to look back as they fled, Lot's wife did and was turned into a pillar of salt. Later that night, Lot's daughters got Lot drunk and then slept with him, assuming that they were the only survivors in the world and that they would need to replenish the world; Luca Cambiaso (Italian, 1527-1585), attributed, Judith beheading Holofernes, pen and brown ink and wash and pencil. A quick sketch on cream laid paper mounted on laid paper. Indistictly inscribed on ink lower center. Trained by his father, Cambiaso soon became the leading painter in Genoa in the 16th century. A master of a quick spontaneous drawing style, Cambiaso produced many "ebullient and energetic drawings."
Two walls in the show are devoted to drawings by Ercole Bazzicaluva (b. Pisa, c. 1610; d ?Florence, after 1641). Italian draughtsman and engraver. After studying at Giulio Parigi's academy, he became first a "servant of His Serene Highness the Archduke of Innsbruck, then castellan of the old fortress of Livorno, and finally of the fortress of Pisa" (Filippo Baldinucci [Florence, 1625-1697], Notizie de' professori del disegno da Cimabue in qua, an updatingand expanding of Vasari's Lives of the Artists). Art was not his main interest, yet Baldinucci described him as "a brilliant draughtsman in pen and ink," and his drawings, which are mainly of subjects inspired by his experience of military occupations, hunts and battles, are highly accomplished. His landscape drawings, which include a View of the Valley of the Arno, with the Villa Ambrogiana (1633; Florence, Bib. Marucelliana), a rare example of a dated drawing, and his Landscape with Rustic Houses and Muleteer (Florence, Uffizi), convey a Tuscan feeling for the pleasures of country life. A group of studies of trees (Florence, Uffizi), reminiscent of similar drawings by Paul Bril, delight in the effects of gnarled roots and tree trunks decoratively patterned against the sky. In 1638 he etched a series of marines and landscapes, which he described, in the dedication to Ferdinand II de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany, as "rare and imaginary lands." Although these are early works, they are elegantly composed, reminiscent, in their skilled rendering, of the luminous space and soft vegetation of the art of Stefano della Bella and Filippo Napoletano. In four engravings of military episodes (1641) the compositions, with a deeply shadowed foreground set against a deep, broad landscape, are derived from prints by Antonio Tempesta. In the same year Bazzicaluva produced 13 prints for Bartolommeo Bocchini's mock heroic poem Le pazzie dei Savi, o vero il Lambertaccio (1641). A series of six etchings of hunts, of unknown date, are very close to the style of della Bella. (Source: Annamaria Negro Spina, Grove Dictionary of Art, III: 437-38). His works can be seen in the Louvre, The Courtauld Institute (London), The Metropolitan Museum of Art, the National Gallery (Washington D.C.), and the Princeton University Art Museum, among others.
We have 29 pieces by Bazzicaluva on three linked webpages; since the works above are obviously not suitable for viewing as a group, we strongly recommend that you go to the individual pieces on the pages of our website. As an incentive, we provide several examples below; there are also two additional pieces on our home page.
We have 29 pieces by Bazzicaluva on three linked webpages; since the works above are obviously not suitable for viewing as a group, we strongly recommend that you go to the individual pieces on the pages of our website. As an incentive, we provide several examples below; there are also two additional pieces on our home page.
Ercole Bazzicaluva (Pisa, 1610-after 1641, Florence), A Prophet rebuking a King / Nathan and David?. Original pen and brown ink drawing, after 1630. Drawing on laid paper glued to a larger sheet of laid paper. Our drawings all came from one collection and may have been trimmed from larger compositions to form a library of poses for the workshop of some unknown artist, perhaps Bazzicaluva or one of his pupils. Image size: 57x73mm (2-1/4x2-7/8 inches). Price: $1250.
The drawing is shown larger than life.
Ercole Bazzicaluva (Pisa, 1610-after 1641, Florence), The Visitation: Mary and Elizabeth each feel the other's enwombed child and believe. Original pen and brown ink drawing, after 1630. Drawing on laid paper glued to a larger sheet of laid paper. Our drawings all came from one collection and may have been trimmed from larger compositions to form a library of poses for the workshop of some unknown artist, perhaps Bazzicaluva or one of his pupils. Image size: 50x44mm (2x1-3/4 inches). Price: $1250.
The drawing is shown larger than life.
Ercole Bazzicaluva (Pisa, 1610-after 1641, Florence), Courtier with drum. Original pen and brown ink drawing, after 1630. Drawing on laid paper glued to a larger sheet of laid paper. Our drawings all came from one collection and may have been trimmed from larger compositions to form a library of poses for the workshop of some unknown artist, perhaps Bazzicaluva or one of his pupils. Fans of Shakespeare may remember Parolles and his drum in All's Well that Ends Well, written in the early 17th century. Image size: 67x33mm (2-5/8x1-5/8 inches) Price: $1250.
The drawing is shown larger than life.
Ercole Bazzicaluva (Pisa, 1610-after 1641, Florence), A Florentine Farmhouse. Original pen and brown ink drawing, after 1630. Drawing on laid paper glued to a larger sheet of laid paper. Our drawings all came from one collection and may have been trimmed from larger compositions to form a library of poses for the workshop of some unknown artist, perhaps Bazzicaluva or one of his pupils. Image size: 52x92mm (2-1/16x3-1/8 inches). Price: $1500.
The drawing is shown larger than life.
Ercole Bazzicaluva (Pisa, 1610-after 1641, Florence), Men loading boats. Original pen and brown ink drawing, after 1630. Drawing on laid paper glued to a larger sheet of laid paper. Our drawings all came from one collection and may have been trimmed from larger compositions to form a library of poses for the workshop of some unknown artist, perhaps Bazzicaluva or one of his pupils. Image size: 42x57mm (1-5/8x2-1/4 inches). Price: $1250.
The drawing is shown larger than life.
Several years ago we acquired, with the assistance of a rare book dealer in Brussels, a portfolio of drawings on laid paper, many of which are clearly from the same hand and some of which are signed I:D:N (one is signed I:N:D, some are not signed at all, and one is signed "de Neufforge" with a flourish.) According to both Benezit and Thieme-Becker's biographical encyclopedias of artists, Jean-François de Neufforge was born in Comblain-au-Point, Belgium in 1714 and died in Paris on 19 December 1791. According to an article by Claire Baines in the Grove Dictionary of Art (2000), 22: 925, Neufforge, an architect and sculptor, arrived in Paris around 1738 and studied engraving with Pierre Edmé Babel and architecture with Jacques-François Blondel. Although he worked primarily in the Rococo style, he was also interested in classical sculpture and was aware of his contemporaries, particularly François Boucher (1703-1770). Neufforge's great work was the Recueil élémentaire d'architecture containing roughly 900 architectural engravings, nearly all of which he both designed and engraved (published in several parts in 1757-68 and 1772-1780). According to Prof. Baines, "It is a traditional architect's pattern-book but is of unprecedented scope, containing virtually every type of civic and domestic building then known, including such structures as prisons and lighthouses that had only recently been considered worthy of an architect's attention. In addition, it covers such topics as interior decoration, gardens and methods of construction. In his designs for domestic architecture, Neufforge included models to suit every level of patron, from the most modest to the most aristocratic. The designs draw both on antiquity and the High Renaissance, and the Recueil was extensively used as a source-book throughout the late 18th century." Prof. Baines also suggests that his engraving style was formed while engraving plates for Julien-David Le Roy's book, Les Ruines des ples beaux monuments de la Grèce (Paris, 1758), a work to which he may have been drawn by his interest in classical figures or from which he have become interested in classical figures (like Heraclitos, the weeping philosopher, whose imagined portrat he drew at least twice, once in black chalk and once in red, bordered as if for an engraving. Also part of the exhibition are a several drawings that show classical (Cicero) and contemporary orators which we have hung in couterpoint to a drawing of a Roman king and St. Peter, another famed orator (at least in the opening of the Acts of the Apostles). Also in the show are two groups of drawings, one of fashionable aristocratic women with pearls in their hair or around their necks paired with a coy nude and a woman in a mob cap and the other of which is juxtaposes two drawings of a baby (we assume the Christ child) and one of what we think is a drawing similar to Durer's drawing of the figure who appears in his painting of the 12-year old Jesus teaching the elders in the temple along with two drawings of a modestly dressed young woman who would not be out of place in a traditional depiction of the Virgin Mary, either solo or in a group scene.
Our drawings are on thick laid paper with several different watermarks (though some have no watermark at all). Some treat the same subject (often with one signed and one or two others unsigned); some are surrounded by framing lines as if they were presentation drawings or intended for an album, some are not; some seem to be designed as engravings and have a space reserved for a descriptive printed text, some do not. Some are clearly drawn from life; others seem as though they might have been taken from classical or Renaissance sculptures. Some of the drawings have a marvelous liveliness about them, some are more weighty; all are very well done and in very good condition with the exception of the occasional handling crease or stain, mostly invisible when matted. None show signs of having been matted in the past: they seem to have been kept in a leather case and show no signs of either light or mat stain.
The drawings represent another kind of activity. Stylistically, many of the drawings—particularly those of women—show the influence of Boucher and the color crayon noir manner engraving style used to reproduce his works. These engravings, very similar to Woman with turban or Woman with pearl necklace looking down (both on I:D:N: Women) or Seated male nude below are currently selling for prices up to $10,000 at auction. It is quite possible that some of our drawings were executed as models for such prints.
For more specific information about the works in the show, we refer you to the relevent pages on our website, I.D.N. Drawings: Religious, I.D.N. Drawings: Men, and I.D.N. Drawings: Women. Above left: Man Screaming; beneath: Woman with French braid looking to the left and Woman with French braid looking to the left II. Above right: The Young Jesus / Youth with a French braid; beneath: Infant Christ child and Infant Christ child III.
