Italian Drawings of the Sixteenth Century

Italian Drawings of the Sixteenth Century

As one of the museums most steeped in tradition and most wide-ranging concerning the specialization in Art on Paper, the Dresden Kupferstich-Kabinett possesses a collection of Italian Old Master drawings of international stature. Not least among their holdings is a vast range of works from the high and late Renaissance era.
The collection includes more than 600 single sheets, as well as six bound volumes containing another 700 drawings of Italian draftsmanship from an era that spans across the 16th century. Among these items are world-renowned sheets, as well as a wide variety of high quality works that are as of yet mainly unknown to both scholars and the general public.

Since its inception in 2017, the project is dedicated to the research and cataloguing of this important inventory (see here for more material). In terms of its content, it serves as a follow-up to the collection catalogues of Italian drawings from the 15th century published in 2006 and 2014, which already featured some of the early works by 16th-century artists. The final result will be a scholarly catalogue in English, which will bundle the research findings and make them available for future research. With respect to methodology, and with the wealth and diversity of the material in mind, we lay particular emphasis on fostering a dialogue with international colleagues. Between February 2018 and March 2024, the project has been generously supported by the Getty Foundation as part of their initiative "The Paper Project: Prints and Drawings Curatorship in the 21st Century". Significant funding has also come from the Ernst von Siemens Kunststiftung and the Wolfgang Ratjen Foundation.
 

Cataloguing in Dialogue

While researching the holdings, we have already focused on the digital publication of the drawings in the Online Collection of the Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden. Almost all relevant sheets are now searchable online; in many cases they include a short commentary summarizing the state of knowledge. The data changes dynamically as the work progresses. We have deliberately included sheets still in need of thorough research, as well as works from the early 17th century.

A dedicated website designed by the project’s research assistant Heidi Lachmann and programmed by Martin Zavesky bundles the entries from the online collection into smaller topical units, inviting visitors to browse. In addition to regional schools and cities, the webpage offers various thematic areas. Further groups of works will follow over the course of the project.

Hints and suggestions concerning the artworks in the online collection are always welcome, and may be sent by e-mail or via the feedback function at the end of each entry.

Additional data, findings, tips, and thoughts on the drawings in Dresden that result from the dialogue amongst the project participants and other experts in the field are continually documented in the museum’s database and are available to researchers upon request. In the first years of the project, when the relevant holdings were not yet fully searchable in the Online Collection, we tested a special format for digital research discourse, which allowed participants to receive regular password-protected updates on the progress of the cataloguing. In addition, they could also submit comments and suggestions.

 

First Project Stage (concluded)

The Exhibition

A selection of approximately 100 sheets was presented to the public from October 2018 to January 2019 as part of the “The Realm of Possibilities. Italian drawings of the 16th century” exhibition, co-curated by Gudula Metze and Marion Heisterberg. The exhibition included numerous unpublished artworks and some new discoveries.
The title “The Realm of Possibilities” referred both to the central role of these drawings in the development of pictorial ideas and to the freedom that the medium offers as an independent art form. Further, the never-ending process of the attribution and classification of Old Master drawings, which the title also alludes to, should be made comprehensible and transparent for the public. Since these interpretations of drawings, like the drawings themselves, are always influenced by temporal context, the exhibition also focused on acquisition and collection history, which spans more than four centuries.

A fan-fold brochure released on the occasion of the exhibition offered an additional overview of both the collection and its acquisition history. This publication was produced with the kind support of the Wolfgang Ratjen Foundation.

Workshop and Traveling Seminars

The exhibition also provided the setting for an international workshop. Senior specialists came together with early and mid-career professionals to discuss the Dresden collection of 16th-century Italian drawings, where they also debated current questions of curating prints and drawings. Another topic concerned the challenges of cataloguing complex inventories in the digital age.
Funding for the workshop was provided by the Wolfgang Ratjen Foundation and by a major grant from the Getty Foundation as part of “The Paper Project: Prints and Drawings Curatorship in the 21st Century”.

The Getty Foundation grant also supported the group of early and mid-career professionals in the form of two traveling seminars. During the first seminar in winter 2018, the participants visited collections in Leipzig, Berlin, and Budapest. In June 2019, a second seminar took place in Frankfurt and offered insight into the important collection of Italian drawings in the Städel Museum. Day trips to collections in Düsseldorf, Darmstadt, and Stuttgart completed the programme. This approach provided ideal opportunities for scholarly exchange and allowed a new generation of curators to deepen their knowledge of curatorial practice.

Curatorial Research Fellowship at the Bibliotheca Hertziana in Rome

The three-month curatorial research fellowship at the Bibliotheca Hertziana - Max-Planck-Institut für Kunstgeschichte in Rome proved to be highly beneficial for the scholarly examination of the sheets, as well as the preparation for the second project phase. The fellowship allowed Marion Heisterberg to use the institution’s exceptional research infrastructure while expanding the discourse concerning the Dresden sheets with colleagues on site (01.07.–30.09.2019).

Team

Besides the Project Team at the Kupferstich-Kabinett, the project was accompanied by  Chris Fischer (Copenhagen, Statens Museum for Kunst, Center for Advanced Studies in Master Drawings) as Senior Mentor. Heiko Damm (Mainz, Johannes Gutenberg Universität) supported the Team  as Academic Advisor.
Marion Heisterberg, through her work as Project Coordinator for the colloquium and the first traveling seminar, contributed substantially to both the conception and the execution (01.06–31.12.2018). The second traveling seminar profited considerably in regards to content and organization from the work of Christoph Orth, who joined the project team as an assistant curator (01.04.–30.11.2019).

Duration

February 2018 – December 2019
 

Second Project Stage (concluded)

Building on the experiences of the first project stage, the focus was then laid upon researching and cataloguing the Italian drawings of the 16th century. This process involved art historical approaches, including provenance and collection history, as well as art technological research on the materiality of the drawings.
Thanks to the renewed support from the Getty Foundation, as part of “The Paper Project: Prints and Drawings Curatorship in the 21st Century” initiative, it was possible to build on the foundation of a broad scholarly exchange and to involve colleagues from various disciplines for both cataloguing and methodical debate. A key aspect here was the question of what form the future catalogue should take.

Exploring the holdings

As an indispensable basis, the systematic description of the drawings and the transcription of the associated archival records stood at the beginning of the second project phase. As a Predoctoral Fellow, Lisa Jordan filled in the large gaps in the documentation and supplemented the state of knowledge on the individual sheets in the museum database "Daphne".
We owe further new findings also to the close collaboration with Johanna Ziegler and Olaf Simon from the paper conservation department of the Kupferstich-Kabinett, where the drawings were examined with regard to their material condition and , if necessary, underwent conservation treatment. For the scientific analysis of selected works, the team also received collegial support from Carsten Wintermann and Uwe Golle from the Klassik Stiftung Weimar.

Workshop

A central event of the second project phase was the international workshop that took place in March 2021. As a Postdoctoral Fellow, Christoph Orth was instrumental in organizing this three-day event, which, due to the Covid19 pandemic, was held online. The workshop had a dual function: the participants discussed both concrete challenges in dealing with the Dresden holdings of Italian Cinquecento drawings and fundamental questions of cataloguing in the digital age.

Colleagues from different institutions and career stages shared their experiences. The guest list included the teams of other cataloguing projects funded by the Getty Foundation’s Paper Project Initiative (Speakers & Topics). A more detailed report on the conference is in progress.

Studiolo

In order to promote exchange, we initiated a series of informal virtual meetings on individual groups of drawings and questions of classification under the title "Studiolo". We first held two rounds of discussions on particularly controversial or hitherto completely ignored sheets that are difficult to classify (see the drawings selected for "Studiolo I" in June 2021, and those for "Studiolo II" in September 2021). Further virtual meetings of this kind took place in June 2022 and February 2023.

Short Term Visiting Fellows

The second "Studiolo" took place during the visit of the four so-called Short Term Visiting Fellows to the Dresden Kupferstich-Kabinett. Together with mentor Chris Fischer, the participants discussed selected groups of works and considered possible classification approaches. The four fellows (Alessandra Nardi, Florence; Annkatrin Kaul, Mainz; Elena Rame, Novara; Anita V. Sganzerla, London) accompanied the project with their expertise. They also participated – together with other international scholars – in the cataloguing.

“A Wider View”

During the exhibition “Anselmi to Zuccari. Master Drawings from the Hoesch Collection as Guests” (10.06.–11.09.2022), the cataloguing project was given greater public visibility. In the exhibition section “A Wider View”, individual sheets were displayed on a rotating basis together with the current state of research.

Watermarks

Between October 2022 and December 2023, we systematically documented the watermarks identified in the drawings using standardised transmitted light, paper structure visualisation, and tracings. The latter were produced by an external paper conservator, Mairid Schleinschock. The relevant drawings and their watermarks can be researched in the Online Collection. The aim is to describe the watermarks according to internationally recognised standards, and to publish them in a central metadatabase for watermark documentation.

Research and Networking

Research on the Dresden drawings was enhanced by visits to important public drawing collections such as the Louvre, the Uffizi and the British Museum. Such trips were a valuable opportunity to benefit from the expertise of colleagues working there. Furthermore, several authors involved in the catalogue researched the collection together with the project team in the study room of the Dresden Kupferstich-Kabinett. The international reach of the project was also strengthened by participation in conferences and seminars.

Team

Once again, the Kupferstich-Kabinett Project Team was supported by Chris Fischer as Senior Mentor. The Research Assistant Heidi Lachmann (01.01.2020–31.12.2023) was essential thanks to her cooperation in organisational and editorial matters and not least because of her skills in graphics and media design. Predoctoral Fellow Lisa Jordan (01.03.2020–30.04.2021) thoroughly documented the material aspects of the drawings, thus setting the basis for further research. Postdoctoral Fellows Christoph Orth (01.09.2020֪–30.09.2021) and Silvia Massa (since 01.06.2022) also played a key role in the project. Following the second project phase, Silvia Massa was recruited to help with the final realisation of the catalogue.

Duration

September 2019 – March 2024

Producing the catalogue (ongoing)

Following the first two phases of the project, which were devoted to research, scholarly discussion and academic networking, the task now is to bring together the results and make them usable for future research. The production of the catalogue, which is planned as a freely accessible online publication in PDF format, is being significantly supported by the Ernst von Siemens Kunststiftung and the Wolfgang Ratjen Foundation. All texts should be ready by the end of 2024, with publication planned for 2025. The project will be followed by a printed catalogue presenting a selection from the holdings.

Duration

December 2017 - December 2025

Project Managers

Gudula Metze, Curator for Italian, French, Spanish and English Drawings and Prints to 1800, Kupferstich-Kabinett

Director of the Kupferstich-Kabinett

Stephanie Buck

Project Staff at the SKD

Silvia Massa, Postdoctoral fellow, Kupferstich-Kabinett (since 01.06.2022)
Olaf Simon, Paper conservator, Kupferstich-Kabinett
Johanna Ziegler, Paper conservator, Kupferstich-Kabinett

Kontakt

kk.disegno@skd.museum