Study for Judas

Jacopo Tintoretto (Jacopo Comin, Jacopo Robusti) (in circa 1592-1594)

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Specifications

Title	Study for Judas
Material and technique	Black chalk, squared, on blue paper
Object type	Drawing > Two-dimensional object > Art object
Location	This object is in storage

Dimensions	Height 315 mm Width 200 mm
Artists	Draughtsman: Jacopo Tintoretto (Jacopo Comin, Jacopo Robusti)
Accession number	I 75 recto (PK)
Credits	Loan Stichting Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen (former Koenigs collection), 1940
Department	Drawings & Prints
Acquisition date	1940
Creation date	in circa 1592-1594
Watermark	Crossbow (44 x 36 mm, upside down, below centre, right, on P5 of 7P, vH, folio leaf), similar to Briquet 731 and 733 (but without countermark, resp. Reggio Emilia 1592 and 1595) and to Piccard Online AT3800-PO-123788 and 123789 (but without countermark, Arco 1591 and 1593). The same type of Crossbow watermark is found in a drawing by Domenico Tintoretto, MBVB, inv. I 405), and in a drawing by Alessandro Maganza in the Fondation Custodia, Paris (inv. 4191, Byam Shaw 1983, vol. I, nr. 257, vol. 2, p. 131, ill.). [see image]
Inscriptions	'tintoretto’ (below, right of centre, pen and brown ink); ‘11’ (verso, below left, pencil), ‘12’ (verso, below right, pencil)
Collector	Collector / Franz Koenigs
Mark	F.W. Koenigs (L.1023a)
Provenance	Francesco II d'Adda, conte di Sale, Milan (-1641), album of drawings from c. 1630-40, Elenco no. 12; - ; Franz W. Koenigs (1881-1941, L.1023a), Haarlem, acquired in 1926; D.G. van Beuningen (1877-1955), Rotterdam, acquired with the Koenigs Collection in 1940 and donated to Stichting Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen
Exhibitions	none
Research	Show research Italian Drawings 1400-1600
Literature	Tietze/Tietze-Conrat 1944, no. 1656, pl. 113; Rossi 1975, p. 53, fig. 196, 197 (recto and verso mixed up); Pallucchini/Rossi 1982, p. 234, under no. 467; Rearick 2001, pp. 173, 204, 229 (Domenico); Marciari 2018, pp. 138, 141 n. 59, p. 171 (Domenico); Koshikawa 2019, pp. 138-139, 141, fig. 12 (Domenico)
Material	Black chalk > Chalk > Artist's material > Material > Material and technique Blue paper > Coloured paper > Paper > Vegetable material > Organic material > Material > Material and technique
Object	Drawing > Two-dimensional object > Art object
Technique	Squared > Squaring > Drawing technique > Technique > Material and technique Squared > Squaring > Drawing technique > Technique > Material and technique
Geographical origin	Italy > Southern Europe > Europe
Place of manufacture	Venice > Veneto region > Italy > Southern Europe > Europe

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Entry catalogue Italian Drawings 1400-1600

Author: Albert Elen

Jacopo and Domenico Tintoretto, detail of Judas in 'The Last Supper', 1592-94, oil on canvas, 365 x 586 cm, San Giorgio Maggiore, Venice. Photo Web Gallery of Art

The drawings on this double-sided sheet were already listed as preparatory for the figure of Judas in the painting The Last Supper (fig.) in San Giorgio Maggiore, Venice,^[1] in the sale inventory of the D’Adda album in 1926.^[2]The attribution to Jacopo Tintoretto (1518-1594), accepted by Tietze/Tietze-Conrat (1944), Rossi (1975) and Pallucchini/Rossi (1982), was rejected by Rearick (2001), who first recognized the ‘typical realistic style’ of Domenico Tintoretto.^[3] His view was recently endorsed by Marciari (2018), who also believes both were drawn by Jacopo’s son, who was in charge of the execution of this painting under the supervision of his elderly father in his last two years (1592-94). Koshikawa (2019), not referring to Marciari but to discussions with Ilchman and Echols, came to the same conclusion, based on the drawing style that does not fit into the sequence of Jacopo’s late drawings but instead closely resembles that of a study of a standing male nude by Domenico, now in Florence.^[4]

Rearick (2001) considers the recto drawing the prima idea for the figure of Judas, seated at the end of the long table which is placed diagonally in the centre of the composition. The draughtsman experimented with the position of the limbs, especially the right leg, ultimately choosing the middle way, judging from the second drawing on the reverse, which was subsequently squared for transfer to the canvas. Unlike most of Jacopo’s experimental preparatory drawings, the figure here is summarily clothed in both stages of development.^[5]Marciari (2018) believes the recto drawing was made after a nude life model.^[6]The Rotterdam sheet is the only known preparatory drawing by Domenico for this painting, but in view of the quantity of figures in the crowded composition, there must have been many more, by both father and son. A preliminary figure for the figure at far left, leaning against the wall, is also in Rotterdam (I 397) but considered a work by Jacopo himself, who was responsible for the design of the painting.

Footnotes

^[1] De Vecchi 1970, no. 292 B, pl. 61; Pallucchini/Rossi 1982, no. 467, fig. 597.

^[2] Inventory (Elenco), no. 12: 'Due studii per il Giuda dell' Ultima cena di S. Giorgio Maggiore'. This Elenco is discussed in the introduction to this online catalogue.

^[3]Tietze/Tietze-Conrat, Rossi and Rearick all confuse recto and verso drawings (the verso is easily recognizable from Koenigs’s collector’s mark in the lower left corner).

^[4]Gallerie degli Uffizi, inv. 12971 F; Koshikawa 2019, p. 138, fig. 13 (the author refers to the recto drawing only, disregarding the closely related one on the verso).

^[5]According to Rearick (2001), the recto drawing (his verso, see previous footnote) is a nude figure, the verso drawing clothed.

^[6]John Marciari, noted during a visit to the museum in September 2017.

Show research Italian Drawings 1400-1600

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