Paolo Farinati

Jean-Pierre Selz, Paris; acquired in 1990

Gainesville, et al., 1991-93, cat. no. 10

Laid down. Parts of the sheet are made up along bottom edge; top left corner made up. Quite worn all over. Seem to be some old tears repaired by being laid down. - eg across Virgin's arm and Joseph's staff.
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Farinati was a painter, an architect and a printmaker, but he is most frequently encountered today as a draughtsman. This imposing drawing evokes the grandeur of Farinati's architectural settings, as well as the artist's native northern Italian artistic heritage: the building in the distance is reminiscent of Palladio's Basilica in Vicenza, while the use of columns recalls the paintings of Veronese.  The elongated but massive figure types, that convey movement even when posed, are, however, typically Farinati.

The present sheet is also characteristic of the artist's extensive use of brown wash to complement pen and ink, before the generous addition of white heightening. One of the most alluring aspects of the Horvitz drawing is the sense it conveys of the immediacy of Farinati's creative process, which is revealed in the pentimenti in the head of St. Joseph.  The combination of spontaneity and finish that we see in this drawing led Linda Wolk-Simon, in her entry in the Horvitz exhibition catalogue, to date it to circa 1590.