This lively and dynamic drawing in pen and ink with wash is a preparatory study for Palma Giovane’s painting, Christ appearing to Doge Pasquale Cicogna in Palazzo Ducale, Venice (fig.1).¹ Three more drawings connected with this particular commission are known, housed in the Uffizi, Florence, The Royal Library, Windsor and in the Kobberstiksamling, Copenhagen^.2

The present sheet is closest to the drawing at Windsor in terms of the compositional layout, and both studies were probably executed after those in Florence and Copenhagen, as they include more elements and details that are reflected in the final painting and are more precise in the depiction of figures, the rendering of their clothing and their attributes. The Florence and Copenhagen sketches are more rapidly drawn, suggesting they are earlier, sequentially, in the preparatory process. In both, the approach is more frenzied, as the ink lines are hastily penned to create the basis of the designs. The Copenhagen sheet is divided into two sections, showing two slightly different versions of the composition.

Clearly, this was an important commission for Palma, with carefully planned drawings, including this vibrant sheet, that indicate the various intricacies of the composition. The figures in the left foreground of this study highlight the artist’s talent for creating movement and energy in the varying poses of his often contorted figures. The drawing was once in the collection of Nathaniel Hone, the Irish-born portrait and miniature painter who was one of the founder members of the Royal Academy in 1768.

1. S. Mason Rinaldi, Palma il Giovane, Milan 1984, cat. no. 537, reproduced, fig. 2072.

2. Ibid., no. D39, fig. 208 (Uffizi), no. D201, fig. 209 (Windsor) and no. D24, fig. 210 (Copenhagen)