53 Sheet of Studies for the
Martyrdom of Saint George
r
Studies of a House, Tree,
Heads, Artist's Tools,
Decorative Motifs, and
Computations
v
Pen and brown ink and brown wash (recto); pen and
brown ink (verso), upper corners have been replaced; H:
28.9 cm (nVs in.); W: 21.7 cm (8^9 /i 6 in.)
83.GA.258
MARKS AND INSCRIPTIONS: (Recto) at top left corner,
inscribed... in Vite et Utas in tri.te/trinitas in unitate in
brown ink by Veronese; at bottom left corner, collection
mark of Emile Wauters (L. 911); at bottom, right of
center, inscribed mow in brown ink by Veronese; at right,
inscribed 27 in red chalk.
PROVENANCE: Baron Max zu Herrnsheim, Darmstadt;
Emile Wauters, Paris (sale, Frederik Muller, Amster-
dam, June 15-16, 1926, lot 33); Baron Robert von
Hirsch, Basel (sale, Sotheby's, London, June 20, 1978, lot
26); Robert Smith, Washington; art market, New York.
EXHIBITIONS: None.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: F. Lee, The Art of the Great Masters as Ex-
emplified by Drawings in the Collection of Emile Wauters
(London, 1913), pp. 49-50; T. Borenius, "A Group of
Drawings by Paul Veronese," Burlington Magazine 37-
38 , no. 225 (February 1921), p. 54; D. von Hadeln, Ve-
nezianische Zeichnungen der Spatrenaissance (Berlin, 1926),
p. 32; P. H. Osmond, Paolo Veronese: His Career and Work
(London, 1927), pp. 54-55, 100; G. Fiocco, Paolo Ve-
ronese (Bologna, 1928), p. 210; H. Tietze and E. Tietze-
Conrat, The Drawings of the Venetian Painters (New York,
1944), pp. 337-339, no. 2029; R. Cocke, "Observations
on some drawings by Paolo Veronese," Master Drawings
n, no. 2 (Summer 1973), pp. 138-139; T. Pignatti, Ve-
ronese (Venice, 1976), p. 131 , under no. 161; R. Cocke,
Veronese's Drawings—A Catalogue Raisonne (London,
1984), pp. 23, 132-133, no. 52.versoTHE RECTO OF THIS SHEET HAS ALWAYS BEEN RECOG-
nized as a study for Veronese's altarpiece in San Giorgio
in Braida, Verona, of circa 1566. Although the drawing
is very free and changes were made from it to the paint-
ing, it established the basic compositional format as well
as the disposition and character of the individual figures.
The saint is shown refusing to sacrifice while looking to
the heavens, where Faith, Hope, and Charity intercede
on his behalf with the Virgin and Child, who are accom-
panied by saints Peter and Paul and attended by music-
making angels. Cocke (1984, p. 132) has suggested that
Veronese made an alternate study for the saint toward the
right of the present main group, but this figure is surely
the soldier with the sword in the painting instead. The
masterfully free and luminous integration of pen and
wash is characteristic of Veronese's mature studies in this
technique. A further drawing of various figures for the
same painting, also in this technique, is in the Museum
Boymans-van Beuningen, Rotterdam (inv. 139; Cocke
1984, no. 53).
The verso of this sheet was revealed when it was
lifted from its former mount in 1983. Although some-
what damaged, the verso contains a few interesting de-
tails. At the lower right are two studies for architectural
decoration, above which are columns of figures. To the
left are a small, freely sketched bit of landscape with a
house, two heads of bearded men, and a rather stark out-
line drawing of a woman in profile. The male head in
profile may be a study for the Saint Peter in the upper
right corner of the altarpiece in Verona. Lastly, below the
heads is a round object upon which various implements,
including a compass and a knife, have been placed.128 ITALIAN SCHOOL • VERONESE