An Italian Journey: Drawings from the Tobey Collection, Correggio to Tiepolo

This handsome volume presents selections from one of America's preeminent private collections of Old Master drawings, assembled over the last quarter century by David M. and Julie Tobey. Dating from the sixteenth through the eighteenth centuries, seventy-two drawings—several previously unpublished—are featured. The diverse array of holdings consists principally of works by Italian masters but also by artists whose careers brought them south of the Alps, among them such brilliant draftsmen as Correggio, Giulio Romano, Parmigianino, Salvator Rosa, Poussin, Bernini, Canaletto, Tiepolo, and their contemporaries.

Impressive in their variety, the drawings include figure and composition studies, landscapes, portraits, botanical drawings, motifs inspired by classical antiquity, and designs for painted compositions. Among the highlights are a splendid study of the head of Julius Caesar by Andrea del Sarto, a lively sheet of sketches by Perino del Vaga, a stunningly naturalistic study of a nude boy by Ludovico Carracci, a poetic Guercino landscape, charming topographical views by Luca Carlegarijs, Canaletto, and Bernardo Bellotto, a rare composition drawing by Giovanni Battista Tiepolo, and a richly painted allegory by Giovanni David, to name just a few of the superlative examples in this carefully formed collection.

The catalogue includes lengthy entries on each drawing and illuminating biographies of the artists. Every drawing in the Tobey Collection is reproduced in color and accompanied by numerous comparative illustrations.

The contributors are Linda Wolk-Simon, Curator; George R. Goldner, Drue Heinz Chairman; Carmen C. Bambach and Perrin Stein, Curators; and Stijn Alsteens, Associate Curator, all of the Department of Drawings and Prints, The Metropolitan Museum of Art; and Mary Vaccaro, Professor of Art History at the University of Texas at Arlington.