Jacopo Palma, called Il Giovane

C.R. Rudolf, London (L.2811b);
Day and Faber, London; acquired in 2001

S.M. Rinaldi, Drawings by Jacopo Palma il Giovane from the Collection of the late Mr. C.R. Rudolf, London 1977, cat. no. 11;
Idem, Palma il Giovane: L'opera completa, Milan 1984, pp. 108, 158-9, cat. no. D.105, reproduced fig. 365

Sold mounted and framed in a modern gilded frame. Laid down on an old mount. There is a small fault in the paper on the balustrade, and two small marks from what appears to be orange/red paint near the lower right corner. Otherwise, the drawing is in excellent condition, the chalk is strong and the blue paper has not lost any colour.
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NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

Stefania Mason Rinaldi discovered this drawing in the C.R. Rudolf collection, where it had traditionally been kept under the name of Tintoretto.  She recognised it, instead, as a study by Palma for an apostle in the fresco of the Assumption of the Virgin in the Duomo, Salò (Brescia).¹  The fresco (fig.1) was painted in 1602-3 by Palma, with the assistance of Antonio Aliense, and was one of the greatest projects that the artist undertook outside his native Venice.

The apostle perches on the edge of a balustrade which runs along the bottom of the dome, integrating the architecture of the church with the illusory space above.  He leans backwards and raises his arm in astonishment, as he sees the Virgin rise up to the Heavens in glory, thereby directing the viewer's attention to the focus of the narrative. 

The Tintorettesque nature of the drawing, with its great sense of movement and rapidly drawn, somewhat staccato contours, can be compared to three figure studies by Palma, in the Accademia Carrara di Bergamo, all similarly executed in black chalk on blue paper.²

1. Rinaldi, op. cit., 1984, p. 108, cat. no. 259, reproduced fig. 367

3. Jacopo Palma il Giovane, disegni inediti dell'Accademia Carrara di Bergamo e del Museo Fantoni di Rovetta, Bergamo 1964, p. 26, cat. nos. 1125-1128, pls. 98-101