European Drawings 2: Catalogue of the Collections

BARTOLOMEO PASSAROTTI

1529-1592

29 Nude Studies

Pen and brown ink; H: 29.5 cm (n^5 /8in.); W: 23.4 cm
(9 1/4in.)
88.GG.i09
MARKS AND INSCRIPTIONS: At bottom left, inscribed
Salamanca in brown ink; at bottom right corner, uniden-
tified collection mark.
PROVENANCE: Private collection, Geneva; art market,
London.
EXHIBITIONS: None.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: None.

THIS SHEET IS A CHARACTERISTIC EXAMPLE OF PAS-

sarotti's studies of the male nude, shown here from all

four sides. The poses are slightly adjusted from one to the

other, with the result that the right forearm never ap-

pears. The technique is typical for the artist in its use of

sharply defined cross-hatching, clear and undulating

outlining, and a selective use of thicker lines for emphasis

at certain points along the outlines and in a few interior

passages. As is often true of his drawings, Passarotti

sketched in some of the feet without much detail and

only gave the most summary treatment to the heads. The

overall pose of the figure is also characteristic and may be

compared, for example, with the sheet at Christ Church,

Oxford (inv. 1393), that shows a partial rendering of a

torso in a similar position. In addition the twisting of the

body to emphasize torsion is common in his work.

This drawing may well have been made simply for

study purposes, but it is worth noting that Raffaello

Borghini mentioned a book of anatomical studies by

Passarotti in which one would expect to have found stud-

ies such as this.^1

i. Ilriposo (Florence, 1584), bk. 4, p. 135. The inscription Sala-

manca may refer to the print publisher Antonio Salamanca,

who worked in Rome and died there in 1562, or to the nine-

teenth-century collector Jose, marquis de Salamanca (as has

been suggested by K. Pask).

PASSAROTTI • ITALIAN SCHOOL 8l