Giacomo Negretti, called Palma il Giovane

William Bates (L.2604);
bears unidentified collector's mark, lower right (similar to L.1120b)

Unframed. A small tear to the centre of the upper edge, and another, even smaller, to the centre of the lower edge. There is the remains of a slight diagonal crease across the upper left corner. The white heightening is somewhat oxidised in parts. Otherwise, the condition is fine.
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NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.

Palma painted the triumphant return of David with the head of Goliath twice: one canvas, which bears the date of 1595, is in the church of S. Zaccaria, Venice, the other is in the Museo del Prado, Madrid, and dated to the same year.¹  The present drawing, with what appears to be an autograph date of 1626, is from a later period, towards the end of Palma's life, and is a re-working of the ideas he formulated in the earlier paintings.  The drawing simplifies the compositions, but retains certain elements: the group of jubilant dancers to the right are closest to those present in the Venetian painting, whereas the figure of David is almost identical in pose to the corresponding figure in that of the Prado canvas.  It is a great example of the extraordinary mind of Palma - returning to and re-thinking compositions he had first worked on over thirty years before.

1.  See N. Ivanoff and P. Zampetti, Palma Giovane, Bergamo 1980, respectively p. 584, cat. no. 360, p. 673, fig. 1 and p. 542, cat. no. 102, p. 673, fig. 2.