A TREE ON AN OUTCROP

THE GREAT SKILL IN THE REPRESENTATION OF LANDSCAPE ACQUIRED BY GIROLAMO MUZIANO DURING HIS APPRENTICESHIP IN PADUA AND VENICE WON HIM THE SOBRIQUET OF IL GIOVANE DEI PAESI. MUZIANO'S LANDSCAPES BECAME FAMOUS THANKS TO THE SERIES OF SIX MONUMENTAL COMPOSITIONS OF PENITENT SAINTS IN THE WILDERNESS, BASED ON DRAWINGS BY THE ARTIST AND ENGRAVED BY CORNELIS CORT IN 1573-5. DRAWINGS FOR THIS SERIES ARE IN THE ECOLE DES BEAUX-ARTS, PARIS (INV. M 23550), AND IN THE FONDATION CUSTODIA, J. BYAM SHAW, THE ITALIAN DRAWINGS OF THE FRITS LUGT COLLECTION, PARIS, 1983, NOS. 131-2. THE PRESENT DRAWING IS POSTERIOR TO THE SERIES, AND CAN BE DATED TO THE 1580S WHEN MUZIANO DEVELOPED A LOOSER, MORE DECORATIVE TECHNIQUE. ALTHOUGH THE USE OF WASH IS NOT COMMON IN LANDSCAPE DRAWINGS BY THE ARTIST, THE RENDERING OF THE ROOTS AND THE TRUNK OF THE TREE AND THE FAINT LINES WITH WHICH THE STRUCTURE OF THE TREE IS INDICATED ARE CHARACTERISTIC OF MUZIANO'S DRAWINGS. STUDIES OF SINGLE TREES BY THE ARTIST ARE RARE, ANOTHER EXAMPLE FORMERLY IN THE DUBINI COLLECTION IS NOW IN THE YALE UNIVERSITY ART GALLERY, NEW HAVEN, U. DA COMO, GIROLAMO MUZIANO, BERGAMO, 1930, P. 15, ILLUSTRATED.