JACOPO BASSANO (JacopodaPonte)
CIRCA I5IO-I5924 Christ Driving the Money
Changers from the Temple
Black and colored chalk on blue paper; H: 43.3 cm (17 Vi6
in.); W: 54.3 cm (2i^3 /sin.)
89.06.6 3
MARKS AND INSCRIPTIONS: (Verso) on mount, in-
scribed Jacopo Bassano fee Sammlung durazzo Genoa in
graphite.
PROVENANCE: Marchese Jacopo Durazzo, Genoa; pri-
vate collection, Switzerland (sale, Sotheby's, London,
July 4, 1988, lot 62); art market, New York.
EXHIBITIONS: None.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: None.THIS IS ONE OF ONLY SIX KNOWN LARGE COMPOSI-
tional studies by Bassano drawn with remarkable free-
dom and spontaneity in colored chalk. The others are in
the Musee du Louvre, Paris (inv. RF 38.815; dated 1568);
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C. (inv.
1980.30. i; dated 1568); National Gallery of Canada, Ot-
tawa (inv. 4431; dated 1569); Kupferstichkabinett, Berlin
(inv. Kdz 2463 o;^1 dated 1569); and Museum Narodowe,
Warsaw (inv. RYS.OB.D.III; undated). Within this
group, those in Berlin, Ottawa, and Malibu are looser in
handling. Given the date of 1569 found on the other two,
it seems very likely that the Getty drawing was made on
or very close to that date. It is also probable that it was
made as a preparatory study for one of the many versions
of the subject painted by Jacopo Bassano or other mem-
bers of the Bassano workshop. In general its composi-
tional character and architectural setting are closest to the
version of the theme in a private collection, Bassano del
Grappa, which has been attributed alternately to Jacopo
or his son Leandro.^2 The fact that there are many differ-
ences between drawing and painting suggests that the
former cannot have served as more than a general model
for the latter. It is possible that the drawing was made for
a different, now lost, painting and reused for later vari-
ations on the theme.1. The Berlin drawing was once in the Durazzo collection,
Genoa, as was the study in the Getty.- R. Pallucchini, Bassano (Bologna, 1982), no. 30.
26 ITALIAN SCHOOL • BASSANO