Staatsgalerie Stuttgart
11.10.2019 - 2.2.2020
Venice specialties on paper
Venice holds a prominent position on the map of Italy's artistic landscapes. Brought about by the omnipresent reflecting water surfaces, the unusual light in the »Floating City« inspired not only Venetian painters but also and above all draughtsmen. The stroke of ink, often executed with a pen, takes a leading role: playfully scattered dots and little hook-shaped dabs of a spirited, vibrant, dance-like buoyancy were employed along with washes to reproduce the shimmering effects of the unique atmosphere of »La Serenissima« (»The Most Serene«, as Venice was affectionately called). Compositions sparing in their use of drawing materials and confident in their feeling for expansive surfaces were the result.
Before, during, and after Tiepolo
Featuring some fifty drawings by more than twenty artists - among them Jacopo Tintoretto (1518-1594), Paolo Veronese (1528-1588), Sebstiano Ricci (1659-1734), Giovanni Battista Piazzetta (1682-1754) and Giuseppe Bernardino Bison (1762-1844) - the exhibition presents the various facets of Venetian draughtsmanship from the sixteenth century to the fall of the Republic of Venice in the eighteenth.
The show enhances the concurrent major special exhibition "Tiepolo". Apart from shedding light on Tiepolo's development and his status among the artists of Venice, it also provides insights into the distinguished collection of Venetian drawings in the holdings of the Staatsgalerie's Department of Prints, Drawings and Photographs.