Monday, September 11, 2017

More Pordenone Fragments and Derivations

Pordenone
Prophet and Sibyls
ca. 1530-32
drawing for fresco in Piacenza Cathedral
British Museum

"This drawing [above] is a study for the south-east section of the dome with the central figure of Habakkuk in Piacenza  Cathedral (S. Maria di Campagna) painted in 1530-32.  The drawing is a careful study of the lighting of the figures.  Technical examination during a recent cleaning of the dome has shown that Pordenone did not use cartoons for the figures in the dome except for God the Father in the oculus.  Traces of squaring on the surface indicate that Pordenone copied his designs directly from squared drawings such as this one.  Three drawings of comparable finish and technique for other sections of the dome survive in the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford; the Royal Collection, Windsor Castle; and at the Kunsthalle, Bremen."

curator's notes from the British Museum

Pordenone
Prophet and Sibyls 
ca. 1530-32
drawing for fresco in Piacenza Cathedral
Royal Collection, Great Britain

attributed to Pordenone
St Christopher carrying the Christ Child
ca. 1518-22
drawing
British Museum

"This drawing [above] was issued as a coloured facsimile by the British Museum in 'Reproductions of Drawings by Old Masters in the British Museum' Part II, published by the Trustees, 1891 where it was number XII and described there as 'Attributed to Bernardino Licinio ('Il Pordenone'), Sketch for a Picture of St Christopher.'

 curator's notes from the British Museum (citing half a dozen authorities from the past century who attribute the St Christopher drawing to Pordenone and another half dozen who do not)

Pordenone
Lamentation
1522
preparatory drawing for fresco in Cremona Cathedral
British Museum

The drawing directly above and the drawing directly below reflect entirely different relationships to the original Pordenone frescoes that mirror them.  The first was drawn by the artist before a fresco was painted, in order to prepare for it.  The second was drawn by an unknown person after a fresco had been painted, in order to record its appearance.  Scholars of art history, confronted simply by a drawing that duplicates a painting, have learned never to assume that the drawing preceded the painting. Internal evidence of various sorts combined with various sorts of evidence from external sources must in most cases be balanced together before a reasonable conjecture can be attempted.  

copy after Pordenone
Group of Angels 
after 1529
drawing based on Pordenone's fresco in the Immaculate Conception Chapel, SS Annunziata, Cortemaggiore
British Museum

Fabio Licinio after Pordenone
Annunciation
ca. 1544
engraving of fresco in Sta. Maria degli Angeli, Murano
British Museum

copy after Pordenone
Joachim driven from the Temple
ca. 1550-1600
anonymous Italian drawing after Pordenone's original drawing now in the Uffizi in Florence
British Museum

David Teniers the Younger after Pordenone
Raising of Lazarus
ca. 1656-60
etching and engraving printed by Jan von Troyen after Teniers' drawing of Pordenone's painting
British Museum

Andrea Zucchi after Pordenone
St Lorenzo Giustiniani in Glory with two canons and four saints
ca. 1720
etching and engraving after painting by Pordenone
British Museum

Gaetano Venzo after Pordenone
Hercules defeating Achelous who has taken the form of a bull
ca. 1790-1820
stipple-engraving after painting  (now lost) by Pordenone
British Museum

"Going afterwards to Venice . . he also painted many scenes in fresco on the façade of the house of Martin d'Anna on the same Grand Canal; in particular a Curtius on horseback in foreshortening [below], which has the appearance of being wholly in the round, like the Mercury flying freely through the air, not to speak of many other things that all prove his ability.  That work pleased the whole city of Venice beyond measure, and Pordenone was therefore extolled more highly than any other man who had ever worked in the city up to that time.  Among reasons that caused him to give an incredible amount of effort to all his works, was his rivalry with the most excellent Tiziano; since, setting himself to compete with him, he hoped by means of continual study and by a bold and resolute method of working in fresco to wrest from the hands of Tiziano that sovereignty which he had gained with so many beautiful works . . ."

 Giorgio Vasari, from Lives of the Painters, Sculptors and Architects (1568), translated by Gaston du C. de Vere (1912)

Niccolò Vicentino after Pordenone
Leaping Horseman (Marcus Curtius)
ca. 1530
chiaroscuro woodcut after Pordenone fresco on outdoor façade in Venice
British Museum

Niccolò Vicentino after Pordenone
Saturn holding balances
ca. 1530
chiaroscuro woodcut after Pordenone fresco on outdoor façade in Venice
British Museum

Niccolò Vicentino after Pordenone
Saturn holding balances
ca. 1540-50
chiaroscuro woodcut after Pordenone fresco on outdoor façade in Venice
British Museum

Niccolò Vicentino after Pordenone
Saturn holding balances
1604
chiaroscuro woodcut after Pordenone fresco reprinted by Andrea Andreani
British Museum

Sixteenth-century Venice was full of buildings with gorgeous frescoes painted on their outsides  fully half of Pordenone's total output was devoted to such works  all of which deteriorated in the salt dampness and brightness, disappearing within decades.