Red Marble Bowl
n.d.
Medium
Gouache over traces of black chalk on ivory laid paper
Dimensions
8.1 × 9.7 cm (3 1/4 × 3 7/8 in.)
Classification
gouache
Department
Prints and Drawings
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
115488
Art Historical Context
Giuseppe Grisoni’s “Red Marble Bowl” is a delicate study rendered in gouache over faint black chalk lines on ivory laid paper. Measuring just over three by four inches, the work captures the luminous surface and subtle veining of a polished red marble vessel with remarkable precision. Created without a recorded date, the small-scale piece reflects the intimate nature of many 18th-century drawings intended for private study or as preparatory sketches. Gouache’s opaque, velvety quality allows Grisoni to convey both the stone’s reflective sheen and its rich, saturated color, demonstrating the me...
About the Artist
Giuseppe Grisoni · 1699–1769
Giuseppe Grisoni was born in Mons, in the Spanish Netherlands, in 1699, to an Italian family, and his career unfolded across multiple European courts and cultural centers, making him a quintessentially cosmopolitan figure of the early eighteenth century. He received his artistic training in Florence, where he absorbed the rich tradition of Florentine portraiture and absorbed the influence of the G...