Jacopo Negretti, called Palma Il Giovane

Sir Timothy Clifford (bears his mark, not in Lugt)

Laid down . Overall in good condition. A few small light stains scattered, more visible at the bottom margin. Chalk very fresh and paper still blue-green. The colour of the paper is much richer then the image in the catalogue.
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NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

This rare and splendid figure study by Palma, executed, in the best Venetian tradition, in black chalk on blue paper, is influenced by the very similar studies in the same media made by Jacopo Tintoretto.  The imposing single figure occupies almost the whole page, and Palma has here emphasized, with his skilful use of the black chalk, the torsion of the body, creating a real sense of movement and capturing the straining of every muscle.  

The figure relates to the fighting soldier seen on the left side, towards the front, in Palma’s canvas, Francesco Bembo defeating the Visconti Fleet near Cremona, one of an important series of ceiling paintings executed for the Sala del Maggior Consiglio of the Doge's Palace, Venice (fig. 1), paintings which were Palma's first major public commission.  Following the fire of December 1577, which destroyed both the Sala dello Scrutinio and the Sala del Maggior Consiglio, an extensive programme was devised by the Serenissima to restore the palace to its former splendour.  The project was initially entrusted to Jacopo Tintoretto and Paolo Veronese, but soon both Francesco Bassano and Palma were also invited to contribute.  A committee planned an elaborate decorative scheme for the ceiling decorations, celebrating important Venetian victories, with special focus on the achievements of the city’s private citizens.  Palma contributed three major compositions: Venice enthroned above her conquered provinces, being crowned by victory; Andrea Gritti leads the Venetians' re-entry into Padua; and Francesco Bembo defeating the Visconti fleet, near Cremona.  These canvases were to be inserted within highly elaborate, sculpted and gilded frames.  The project appears to have been completed by the summer of 1582, and is described in Borghini’s Il Riposo, of 1584.   

The figure of a soldier for which this is a study was clearly one that Palma considered to be of great importance within the composition;  another, half-length study for the same figure, in the same media, is in the Wallraf-Richartz Museum, Cologne.¹  A fine pen and ink drawing for the whole composition, now in a private collection, was formerly in the Ratjen Foundation, Vaduz.²

¹ S. Mason Rinaldi, Palma il Giovane, Milan 1984, p. 141, under no. 529, p. 154, no. D 22, and reproduced p. 194, no. 18
² Idem, p. 164, D 184, reproduced p. 194, no. 17