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Giambattista Piazzetta (1683-1754)
Head and shoulders of a youth, shown in three-quarter profile, looking to his right
Between 1730 and 1740
© R.M.N.
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Giambattista Piazzetta (1683-1754)
Head and shoulders of a youth, shown in three-quarter profile, looking to his right
Between 1730 and 1740
Black chalk heightened with white on beige paper
H. 16 cm; W. 12.1 cm
Pierre-Jean Mariette Colletion; sale of the latter, Paris, 1775; seizure of the property of the Émigrés
INV5267
Prints and Drawings
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| Mancini Federica |
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Head and shoulders of a youth, shown in three-quarter profile, looking to his right |
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This drawing executed around 1735 features remarkable intense tones, achieved through the use of black chalk heightened with white. The youth figure appears in several drawings by Piazzetta, a relatively sought-after Venetian artist whose drawings commanded good prices, according to Pierre-Jean Mariette. In his Abecedario, this important art collector describes the ease with which the artist painted and drew, notably large heads drawn from life.
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Portrait of a small masterpiece
This small drawing is remarkably alive and fresh. The lines in black chalk are drawn with a studied effect: they are wide and vibrant in the clothing, steady and sharp in the details of the face, quick and numerous in the hair. The forms of the garment are rendered by spreading the black chalk, and the abundance of hair is emphasized in the same manner. The shadows of the face, dimples in the cheeks, and contours of the eyes are highlighted with this drawing technique, used skillfully by the artist in his chiaroscuro effects. Two works that are very similar to the Louvre drawing illustrate the frequency of these facial features in the work of Piazzetta. They also help us to date the work to between 1730 and 1740. These works are the Study of a Head kept in the Fogg Art Museum in Cambridge, Massachusetts (c. 1740) and a study for a Young Beggar in the Cleveland Institute of Art.
Drawings in vogue
Of the various themes treated by Piazzetta in his drawings, the portrait became the best known and most famous. Numerous surviving exemples, many of which have been attributed to the artist's pupils, were probably produced for commercial reasons. From the 1720s onward, prints and drawings were as highly rated as paintings, which had previously enjoyed undisputed primacy. Drawings corresponding to the light, gracious style of the 18th century were taken out of art lovers' trunks and hung as works of art. Piazzetta was one of the most successful artists to interpret this new wave in Venice. The fact that his works entered the leading collections of the time, such as Mariette's, which included this drawing, underscores Piazetta's preeminence in the Venetian and international milieu of this period.
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Bacou R., in Venise au dix-huitième siècle, peintures, dessins et gravures des collections françaises, Musée national de l'Orangerie des Tuileries, Éditions de la Réunion des musées nationaux, 1971, notice 141.
Viatte François, in Le Cabinet d'un grand amateur P.-J. Mariette (1694-1774) : Dessins du XVe siècle au XVIIIe siècle, Musée du Louvre, Éditions de la Réunion des musées nationaux, 1967, notice 102.
Knox G., in G. B. Piazzetta, Disegni, Incisioni, Libri, Manoscritti, Neri Pozza Editore, Vicence, 1983.
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Prints and Drawings : 
