BULLETIN 1 9 8 7 - 1 9 8 8 THE DAVID AND ALFRED SMART GALLERY THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO THE DAVID AND ALFRED SMART GALLERY BULLETIN THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO 1 9 8 7 - 1 9 8 8 Contents The David and Alfred Smart Gallery invites scholars to submit articles relating to works of art in the Studies in the Permanent Collection Gallery's permanent collection for publication in the annual Bulletin. For further information, write to: Interpretation and Amelioration in the Art of the Editor, Bulletin, The David and Alfred Smart Gallery, Reproductive Printmaker before the Age of The University of Chicago, 5550 South Greenwood Photography 4 Avenue, Chicago, Illinois 60637. JOHN C. BA UM Breathing Life into Sculpture: Pygmalion and Galatea byJean-Leon Gdrome 11 NAOMI MA URER The Fame and Influence of Pordenone's Milo of Croton 14 CHARLES E. COH EN Activities and Support Collection Development and Use 22 ACQUISITIONS LOANS FROM THE C OLLECTION Special Exhibitions and Programs 40 EXHIBITIONS PROGRAMS PUBLICATIONS Sources of Support 50 Volume 1,1987-1988. GRANTS Copyright © 1988 by The David and Alfred Smart Gallery, The University of Chicago. All rights reserved. CONTRIBUTIONS ISSN: 1041-6005 DONORS TO THE C OLLECTION LENDERS TO THE CO LLECTION We note with deep sorrow the passing of our teacher and colleague Edward A. Maser founding director of the Smart Gallery Interpretation and Amelioration in the Art of the Reproductive Printmaker before the Age of Photography JOHN c. BAUM s part of a generous gift of works on paper, the transfer of the image to the printing surface. ADavid and Alfred Smart Gallery in 1985 received Drawings that were not actually destroyed were a group of seven pencil-and-wash drawings mostly lost, or simply discarded when they were of Fig. la. Giuseppe Marrubini, copy after Sandro Botticelli, Fig. lb. Giuseppe Marrubini after Sandro Botticelli, depicting important fifteenth- and sixteenth-century no further use to the printmaker; as utilitarian Discovery of the Body of Holofernes (1487), 1840-46, Discovery of the Body of Holofernes, reproduced from Italian paintings. Superbly and meticulously products of skilled craftsmen, they were not pencil on ivory-colored board, 18 318 x 12 7/16 in., The Ferdinando Ranalli, L'Imperiale e Reale Galleria di executed, the drawings, which date to between 1840 considered works of art worthy of care and David and Alfred Smart Gallery, The University of Firenze... (Florence, 1841-46). Chicago, Gift from tlx children of Leopold and Birdie and 1846, reproduce a number of well-known preservation. Metzenberg, 1985-81.92. religious pictures then in the collection of the Uffizi Along with the importance of the paintings they Gallery' in Florence: Sandro Botticelli's Discovery of represent, however, the intrinsic visual appeal and the Body of Holofernes; Gian Giacopo de Caprotti's remarkable technical mastery of the Smart Gallery's copy of Leonardo da Vinci's famous Madonna with seven drawings certainly contributed to their the Christ Child and Saint Anne; Lorenzo di Credi's unusual survival.2 Today, they are of considerable Adoration of the Christ Child; Jacopo da Empoli's scholarly value, documenting the work of otherwise pendant paintings, the Drunkenness of Noah and forgotten draftsmen and, more importantly, Sacrifice of Isaac; and Onorio Marinari's David providing information about the conditions under Conquering Goliath. In addition to these, the group which early an reproductions were made. Because includes one secular image, Agnolo Bronzino's the nineteenth century saw a tremendous growth in beautiful, richly detailed Portrait ofBia. Illegitimate the number and variety of reproductive prints, Daughter of Cosimo I Medici.1 concurrent with important developments in the Exceptional for their fine technique, the drawings study of art history, an understanding of these are also extremely rare examples of the nineteenth- conditions is pertinent to a number of art historical century reproductive printmakers' craft. Draftsmen issues, not least of which is the role of the made such drawings after paintings and sculptures reproductive image in the history of art history in museums, galleries, churches, and private itself.3 collections to guide etchers and engravers in the The Smart Gallery's drawings were made in process of making reproductive prints. Because the preparation for a large-format illustrated history of printmaker, with his cumbersome equipment and art based on the holdings of the Uffizi. Authored by materials, could not easily goto the work of art, such the Florentine historian and connoisseur a drawing would, in a sense, bring it to him in his Ferdinando Ranalli (1813-1894), the work was workshop. Moreover, the draftsman acted as an published in Florence between 1841 and 1846 under Fig. 2a. Giuseppe Marrubini, copy after Gian Giacopo de Fig. 2b. Giuseppe Marrubini after Gian Giacopo de interpreter, creating a monochromatic, reduced- the title L'Imperiale e Reale Galleria di Firenze.... Caprotti (Andrea Salaino), Holy Family (after Leonardo Caprotti, Holy Family (after Leonardo da Vinci, Madonna scale copy of the original work of art for the Ranalli's edition represented a significant early effort da Vinci, Madonna with Christ Child and St. Anne), and Child with St.Anne), reproduced from Ferdinando printmaker. Few of these highly specialized to illustrate and describe major works among the 1840-46, pencil (and wash?) on cream-colored board, 10 Ranalli, L'Imperiale e Reale Galleria di Firenze... 1/2 x 8 3/8 in., The David and Alfred Smart Gallery, The drawings exist today, since certain processes Uffizi's holdings, and was undertaken at (Florence, 1841-46). University of Chicago, Gift from the children of Leopold required the destruction of the drawing during the considerable expense. One hundred and fifty and Birdie Metzenberg, 198581.95. 4 Smart Gallery Bulletin Studies in the Permanent Collection 5 fascicules were originally projected, treating and skills of a number of artists and artisans, separately the histories of painting and sculpture, including draftsmen who copied the original works but publication ceased prematurely after the ninety- of art more or less faithfully into small-scale pencil- eighth installment. Issued only in a folio-sized and-wash drawings, printmakers who transferred edition with Italian text, it was surely never intended the draftsmen's miniature designs onto the printing merely to guide the tourist or casual visitor, but surfaces, and pressmen who carefully inked and rather to serve as a reference and visual aide- wiped the plates before putting them through the memoire for serious collectors, scholars, and heavy presses. The inscriptions that appear below artists.4 the images in the Smart Gallery's drawings give some Supervising the illustration of Ranalli's edition idea of the extent of this organization and identify were three noted Florentine artists: painter some of the draftsmen who worked on this project. Giuseppe Bezzuoli (1784-1855), sculptor Lorenzo At the left on each sheet is the name of the artist who Bartolini (1777-1850), and engraver Samuele Jesi painted the original, followed by the standard (1788-1853). Bezzuoli's and Bartolini's signatures on abbreviation "dip" (for dipinto, or "painted by"), and four of the Smart Gallery's drawings—after the at the right is the name of the draftsman who drew paintings by Botticelli, di Credi, Bronzino, and the copy, followed by "dis" (for disegno, or "drawn Caprotti—probably indicate that they approved by"). Evidence of the care and expense that went into these particular drawings for reproduction by the Ranalli's publication suggests that he would have Fig. 3a. Leon Carlo Castelnuovo, copy after Lorenzo di Fig. 3b. Leon Carlo Castelnuovo after Lorenzo di Credi, printmaker. Of the seven drawings, the four that are engaged the best draftsmen available. Gustavo Credi, Adoration of the Christ Child, 1840-46, pencil and Adoration of the Christ Child, reproduced from signed are the most completely rendered in detail; Sanguinetti's copy of the Portrait of Bia (fig. 7b) is wash on cream-colored board, 10 3/4 x 9 3/4 in., The Ferdinando Ranalli, L'Imperiale e Reale Galleria di David and Alfred Smart Gallery, The University of Firenze... (Florence, 1841-46). the other three are relatively unfinished, with the unquestionably the work of a master craftsman with Chicago, Gift from the children of leopold and Birdie main figures carefully drawn and the rest, especially great sensitivity for the coloristic and tactile nuances Metzenberg, 1985.85-93. the foliage and backgrounds, only sketched in with of Bronzino's magnificent painting (fig. 7a). preliminary indications. For reasons that may never Likewise, Giuseppe Marrubini, who was responsible be known, all the drawings, both finished and for five of the seven drawings (figs, la, 2a, 4a, 5a, 6a), unfinished, were eventually sent to the printmaker was a skillful observer and visual interpreter with an and appear in the published volumes. It is highly eye for detail. Leon Carlo Castelnuovo's drawing characteristic of workshop practices that the after di Credi's Adoration (fig. 3a) has the startling published engravings precisely reproduce even the visual effect of a cameo miniature. Yet, draftsmen unfinished drawings; not straying from the model such as Sanguinetti, Marrubini, and Castelnuovo are provided by the draftsman, the printmaker himself generally unknown today, since their task was seen thus offers clear evidence of the critical interpretive to be mere copying and thus received little note in link the draftsman provided to the original painting. contemporary records. Patterns of evenly spaced horizontal and vertical While these drawings are indeed reproductions lines are still clearly visible on the three unfinished in a sense, they nevertheless reveal the stylistic drawings; such grids aided the draftsman in habits of the draftsmen themselves and the aesthetic accurately scaling down the image of the original concerns of their age: each draftsman injected into painting.