Synopses & Reviews
Review
Drawing has been the basis of all artistic activity for centuries: Vasari considered drawing to be the direct expression of man's aesthetic genius and Federico Zuccaro declared drawing man's direct link to divine power. The importance of drawing to the visual arts was first recognized in sixteenth-century Italy at the height of the Renaissance.
In Italian Drawings in the Art Institute of Chicago, Harold Joachim, the noted art historian and curator of prints and drawings at the Art Institute, and Suzanne Folds McCullagh present an impressive survey of 151 selected drawings from one of the great printrooms in the United States. Representing every generation of artists from the early Renaissance through the eighteenth century, the drawgins have been newly catalogued and are accompanied by full descriptions and bibliographic references. Catalog entires discuss the artist's career and the historical context of each work. This strikingly beautiful selection includes works by Pisanello, Carpaccio, Taddeo Zuccaro, the Carracci family, Pietro da Cortona, G. B. Castiglione, Alessandro Magnasco, G. B. Piazzetta, Giovanni Battista Tiepolo, and Giuseppe Cades.
Suzanne Folds McCullagh has written a perceptive introduction which outlines the variety of Italian draftmanship as illustrated in the Art Institute's collection. A superb gallery of black-and-white reproductions of every drawing illustrates this development and marks the fascinating interchange between artists.
Review
"This work conforms to the best standards for the writing of a catalogue in this field. The level of expertise is very high; the research thorough and precise, and the style of writing in the catalogue entries is lucid and comprehensible....This work succeeds precisely in accomplishing its intention." Sydney J. Freedberg, Fogg Art Museum, Harvard University