‘The Poetry of Line. Masterpieces of Italian drawing

From 31 January to 26 April 2020 the Kunsthaus Zürich presents ‘The Poetry of Line. Masterpieces of Italian drawing’, a selection from its small but prestigious collection of Italian drawings covering the period between Renaissance and Baroque, which have now been examined by students from the University of Zurich.

The exhibition displays around thirty of the most important works from the Collection of Prints and Drawings at the Kunsthaus Zürich. From the sight of the lines skilfully drawn on the paper it is but a short intellectual leap to the genesis of an artwork.

RAPHAEL, CORREGGIO, GUERCINO

Many of the works have long been classics of the Prints and Drawings Collection: they include a preliminary drawing by Raphael for the Vatican ‘stanze’ and the graceful depiction of Lucretia by Palma Vecchio. Others have never even been published before, despite being the work of equally celebrated masters such as Guercino, Correggio and Carlo Maratti.

 Giuseppe Cesari (known as Cavalier d’Arpino)

Adam and Eve Banished from Paradise, 1602/1603

Red chalk on paper, 17.3 x 12.8 cm

Kunsthaus Zürich

Giovan Gioseffo Dal Sole

Lying naked Youth, c. 1680–1700

Black and red chalk on brownish-grey paper, 37.1 x 54 cm

Kunsthaus Zürich

Giovanni Francesco Barbieri (known as Guercino)

St. Paul Fed by a Raven, c. 1650–1655

Pen in brown on light beige paper, 27.6 x 36.3 cm

Kunsthaus Zürich

 Giovanni Benedetto Castiglione (known as Il Grechetto)

Noah Guiding the Animals into the Ark, c. 1660

Brush in brown and red-brown, blue-grey in parts, on

light beige paper, 32 x 45.4 cm

Kunsthaus Zürich

Carlo Maratti

Hercules Slaying the Nemean Lion (cartouche) with

Temperance and Fortitude, c. 1670

Pen in brown over red chalk on paper, 25.9 x 20.9 cm

Kunsthaus Zürich

Jacopo Negretti (known as Palma Vecchio)

Lucretia, c. 1526–1528

Black chalk with white highlights on brownishgrey

paper, 18.6 x 15.8 cm

Kunsthaus Zürich

Raffaello Sanzio (known as Raphael)

Figure study for the Expulsion of Heliodorus,

c. 1511

Black chalk over stylus underdrawing on

brownish-grey paper, 40 x 26.6 cm

Kunsthaus Zürich

Jacopo Zanguidi (known as Bertoia)

Seated female figure, study of hand and

head, c. 1569–1572

Red chalk on paper, 23.7 x 21.1 cm

Kunsthaus Zürich