Friday, October 25, 2019

Eighteenth-Century Figure Studies (Draped)

Bernard Picart
Bending Figure (Drapery Study)
1711
drawing
Minneapolis Institute of Art

Paolo Pagani
Apotheosis of a Male Cleric-Saint
before 1716
drawing
Minneapolis Institute of Art

attributed to Paolo Pagani
Allegorical Figures
before 1716
drawing
Art Institute of Chicago

Carlo Donelli
Half-Length Figure Study
before 1715
drawing
private collection

from Milton: A Poem

The sky is an immortal tent built by the Sons of Los:
And every space that a man views around his dwelling-place
Standing on his own roof or in his garden on a mount
Of twenty-five cubits in height, such space is his universe.
And on its verge the sun rises and sets, the clouds bow
To meet the flat earth and the sea in such an order'd space:
The starry heavens reach no further, but here bend and set
On all sides, and the two Poles turn on their valves of gold:
And if he moves his dwelling-place, his heavens also move
Where'er he goes, and all his neighbourhood bewail his loss.
Such are the spaces called Earth and such its dimension.
As to that false appearance which appears to the reasoner
As of a globe rolling through voidness, it is a delusion of Ulro.
The microscope knows not of this nor the telescope: they alter
The ratio of the spectator's organs, but leave objects untouch'd.
For every space larger than a red globule of Man's blood
Is visionary, and is created by the Hammer of Los;
And every space smaller than a globule of Man's blood opens
Into Eternity of which this vegetable Earth is but a shadow.
The red globule is the unwearied sun by Los created
To measure time and space to mortal men every morning.

– William Blake (1804-1810)

François Verdier
Running Figure
before 1730
drawing
Minneapolis Institute of Art

Lorenzo de Ferrari
Allegorical Figure
before 1744
drawing
Minneapolis Institute of Art

Francesco Solimena
Figure of Fame
before 1747
drawing
Minneapolis Institute of Art

Jacopo Amigoni
Study for a Portrait of a Field Marshal
before 1752
drawing
Minneapolis Institute of Art

Matteo Bonechi
Angels looking down from Clouds
before 1756
drawing
Minneapolis Institute of Art

Giovanni Antonio Pellegrini
Woman with Two Pages and Entourage
ca. 1773
drawing
Minneapolis Institute of Art

attributed to Joseph-Marie Vien
Study of Seated Model wearing Bishop's Chasuble and Mitre
ca. 1780
drawing
Minneapolis Institute of Art

attributed to Jean Grandjean
Standing Woman in Neoclassical Dress
before 1781
drawing
Minneapolis Institute of Art

attributed to Giovanni Battista Cipriani
Bacchus
before 1785
drawing
Art Institute of Chicago

attributed to Giovanni Battista Cipriani
Abduction of Dejanira by the Centaur Nessus
before 1785
drawing
Art Institute of Chicago