The work of’ this Veronese artist, by family tradition formed in transalpine culture, expresses the most advanced production of late international Mannerist court splendour, already incurably tinged with CounterReformation anxieties. A number of Parisian sheets are linked to the artist’s pictorial production, often being the sole evidence of lost works. Two groups of suggestive drawings relative to a cycle of cartouches on the subject of death, attest a whole generation’s fondness for that theme and the personal reflections of the master, who in his old age studied and meditated on the Passion of Christ under the spiritual guidance of one of his sons, a Dominican priest.

Jacopo Ligozzi was a subtle, versatile draughtsman, held in high esteem in his day. Versed in technique, imaginative and discerning in graphic transposition, so attentive to detail that he often defined himself a miniaturist, he considered drawing an art complete in itself, equal in dignity to painting. The collection of the Cabinet des Dessins documents many of the artist’s interests, spanning almost half a century of work, the period of his stay in Florence. Arrived in 1577 at the court of Francesco I de’ Medici, he devoted himself to naturalistic drawing, provided ideas for engravings, illustrated themes by Dante and series of moral subjects. The work of’ this Veronese artist, by family tradition formed in transalpine culture, expresses the most advanced production of late international Mannerist court splendour, already incurably tinged with CounterReformation anxieties. A number of Parisian sheets are linked to the artist’s pictorial production, often being the sole evidence of lost works. Two groups of suggestive drawings relative to a cycle of cartouches on the subject of death, attest a whole generation’s fondness for that theme and the personal reflections of the master, who in his old age studied and meditated on the Passion of Christ under the spiritual guidance of one of his sons, a Dominican priest.

"He brought to Florence a candid brush, an intricate composition, a taste for ornament and an indefinable grace and delightfulness that were uncommon in Florence"

Lucilla Conigliello

Chronology

Plates

Catalogue

Bibliography