Passarotti artist : A few notes to drawings Bartolomeo Passarottiho in public collections of the Czech Republic, especially in the Moravian Gallery in Brno
Abstract
The study assesses several major drawing by Bologna artist Bartolomeo Passarotti (1529-1592), an exponent of late mannerism, held by Czech art museums. It places them in the context of the artist’s oeuvre, focusing on the manner of their rendering.
The author then matches them to concrete paintings, for example, Study of horses’ heads with Adoration of the Magi from the late 1560s. Another drawing is characterized as a possible version of the Head of Christ study for the painting Noli me tangere from the mid-1570s.
The author classifies Study of male figures with works typified by the interest in the anatomy of the human body and its proportions. Passarotti also devoted his time to the collecting of art objects, torsos of ancient statues and assorted naturalia, and would employ drawings as records of these objects.
He probably intended to use the Male figure and skeleton drawing indicating the relations between the human body proportions in his treatise on the human body, mentioned by his first biographer.