Attributed to El Greco

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Attributed to El Greco

1541?-1614

Pietà. Verso: Woman Turned to the Left, Standing by a Table, Holding a Vessel

ca. 1570

Pen and brown ink and wash, white opaque watercolor, some mixed with brown ink, over black chalk, on light brown laid paper; verso: pen and brown ink and wash, with white opaque watercolor, over black chalk.

9 7/8 x 6 7/8 inches (250 x 175 mm)

Gift of Janos Scholz.

1982.46

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Notes:

Watermark: none.
Attributed to El Greco by Nicolas Turner, "A Proposal for El Greco as a Draftsman," Master Drawings 45, no 3 (Autumn 2007), figs. 13 and 19.
Formerly attributed to Jacopo Palma, called il Giovane. Venice ca. 1548-1628 Venice.
The pathos of this drawing's subject is matched by the intense reworking of the figures, which have been aptly described as nearly "cocooned" in the drawing media. The composition seems to derive from Schiavone's paintings of the subject--an unsurprising model for an artist in Tintoretto's circle--and also evokes the emotional intensity of Tintoretto's Christ Mocked. In this and other examples, the repeatedly redrawn contours of the figures reveal an artist slightly uncomfortable in the rendering of anatomy, but it is clear that spiritual drama, rather than academic correctness, was the primary concern of the draftsman. -- Exhibition Label, from "Drawing in Tintoretto's Venice"

Provenance:

Dr. Max A. Goldstein, St. Louis (1870-1941; no mark; Lugt 2824); from whom purchased in 1944 by Janos Scholz (1903-1993), New York (no mark; see Lugt S. 2933b).

Associated names:

Palma, il Giovane, 1544-1628, Formerly attributed to.
Goldstein, Max A. (Max Aaron), 1870-1941, former owner.
Scholz, János, former owner.

Bibliography:

John Marciari, Drawing in Tintoretto's Venice, New York, 2018, no. 63, fig. 139, repr.
Ryskamp, Charles, ed. Twentieth Report to the Fellows of the Pierpont Morgan Library, 1981-1983. New York : Pierpont Morgan Library, 1984, p. 284-285.
Muraro, Michelangelo. Venetian Drawings from the Collection Janos Scholz. Venice : N. Pozza, 1957, no. 34, repr. (both sides).
The Life of the Virgin Mary : Drawings from the Janos Scholz Collection. Notre Dame : Snite Museum of Art, University of Notre Dame, 1967, no. 35.
100 Master drawings from the Morgan Library & Museum. München : Hirmer, 2008, no. 35, repr. [Kurt Zeitler]

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