Past Exhibition

Italian Master Drawings from the Wolfgang Ratjen Collection: 1525–1835

This painting shows a grand city square filled with people. There are two long white buildings on the left and right of the square, both with large arched windows, smaller round windows, columns, and several rows of balconies. Every balcony and window is filled with people. Between the two buildings, to the right of center, is a domed structure with three tiered layers comprised of central arched openings surrounded by columns topped with statues and covered with intricate railings and details. The square is filled with people in long coats, dresses or pants, and hats, all in shades of gray. Most of them face away from us, looking towards the center of the square where performers stand on a stage, arranged in a pyramid formation using thin beams. The sky above is a gradient of gray, suggesting a cloud-filled sky.
Canaletto, The "Giovedì Grasso" Festival before the Ducal Palace in Venice, 1765/1766, pen and brown ink with gray wash over traces of graphite, tip of the brush with black wash, heightened with touches of white gouache (laid on thick eighteenth-century mount), Wolfgang Ratjen Collection, Paul Mellon Fund, 2007.111.55

Details

  • Dates

    -

  • Locations

    West Building, Ground Floor, Outer Tier Galleries G23, G24, G25
This painting shows a grand city square filled with people. There are two long white buildings on the left and right of the square, both with large arched windows, smaller round windows, columns, and several rows of balconies. Every balcony and window is filled with people. Between the two buildings, to the right of center, is a domed structure with three tiered layers comprised of central arched openings surrounded by columns topped with statues and covered with intricate railings and details. The square is filled with people in long coats, dresses or pants, and hats, all in shades of gray. Most of them face away from us, looking towards the center of the square where performers stand on a stage, arranged in a pyramid formation using thin beams. The sky above is a gradient of gray, suggesting a cloud-filled sky.
Canaletto, The "Giovedì Grasso" Festival before the Ducal Palace in Venice, 1765/1766, pen and brown ink with gray wash over traces of graphite, tip of the brush with black wash, heightened with touches of white gouache (laid on thick eighteenth-century mount), Wolfgang Ratjen Collection, Paul Mellon Fund, 2007.111.55

Overview: 65 Italian drawings from the late Renaissance to the 19th century were shown in this exhibition drawn from the Wolfgang Ratjen Collection at the National Gallery of Art. Included were works by Giulio Romano, Domenico Tintoretto, Giovanni Battista Piranesi, and Canaletto, among others. German drawings from the Ratjen Collection had been shown in an exhibition in the same galleries the previous year. The Ratjen Collection of 185 German and Italian drawings had been acquired by the National Gallery of Art in 2007.

Organization: The exhibition was organized by the National Gallery of Art. Margaret Morgan Grasselli, curator and head of the department of old master drawings, was curator.

Sponsor: The exhibition was made possible through the support of the STIFTUNG RATJEN, Liechtenstein.

Catalog: Italian Master Drawings from the Wolfgang Ratjen Collection, 1525-1835, by Hugo Chapman et al. Washington: National Gallery of Art, 2011.

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