Sketches for an Altar with Saint Margaret of Cortona, Saint Sebastian and Saint Roch (recto); Two Sketches for an Altar (verso)
1728/1754
Medium
Pen and brown ink, with traces of black chalk and graphite (recto), and pen and brown ink with touches of black chalk (verso), on ivory laid paper
Dimensions
27.8 × 19.2 cm (11 × 7 9/16 in.)
Classification
drawings (visual works)
Department
Prints and Drawings
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
113848
Art Historical Context
Giovanni Battista Piazzetta, leading Venetian artist of the early 18th century, created these dynamic sketches around 1728–1754, showcasing his mastery of pen-and-ink drawing. On the recto, the composition features Saint Margaret of Cortona, penitent mystic, alongside Saints Sebastian and Roch—patron saints often invoked during plagues—arranged for an altar design. The verso offers two additional altar sketches, revealing Piazzetta's iterative process in planning grand religious works. Rendered on ivory laid paper27.8 × 19.2 cm), these preparatory drawings capture the artist's fluid line work,...
About the Artist
Giovanni Battista Piazzetta · 1682–1754
Giovanni Battista Piazzetta was born in Venice in 1682 and trained first under his father, the sculptor and woodcarver Giacomo Piazzetta, before turning decisively to painting. The crucial formative experience of his career came when he traveled to Bologna to study under Giuseppe Maria Crespi, whose dramatic use of chiaroscuro — strong contrasts of light and shadow rooted in the Caravaggesque trad...