Drawing in Venice : Titian to Canaletto /

This is the catalogue of an exhibition designed to lay to rest Giorgio Vasari's famous dictum that Venetian artists had to conceal under the charm of coloring a lack of knowledge of how to draw. Whistler (Western art, Ashmolean Museum, UK) brings together drawings from the collections of the Ashmolean and Christ Church in Oxford and the Uffizi in Florence. Noteworthy is the range of techniques on display: soft focus studies after sculpture by Tintoretto, lively brainstorming pen sketches by Veronese and others, loose figural studies by Titian and Tintoretto, and the highly individual pen-and-wash drawings of the Tiepolo family. The Venetian affinity for landscape views is demonstrated in drawings by Campagnola, Marco Ricci, and Canaletto, and there is a startlingly grand garden view by Francesco Guardi. Entries are arranged chronologically by date of execution, beginning in the 15th century with works attributed to Giovanni Bellini and ending in the 18th century with finished drawings by Giandomenico Tiepolo. Included is an essay on the wide use of etching in Venice for both reproductive prints and illustrations in printed books. A welcome celebration of the much-neglected subject of Venetian disegno. Summing Up: Essential. Upper-division undergraduates through faculty. --Debra Pincus, National Gallery of Art