Studies of the Virgin and Child

Marco Zoppo

Summary

A reproduction produced by the Vasari Society of a drawing by Marco Zoppo. The drawing shows four different compositions with a woman holding a child. In the upper left composition, the woman holds the child on the right and she cradles him in her arms. In the upper right composition, the child is lying in the woman's lap with his head to the right, and the woman is looking down at him with her hands together in prayer. There is a figure on either side of the woman holding back curtains and looking down at the scene. In the lower left composition the woman holds the child facing outwards towards the left edge of the picture. The child is standing on a ledge and looking down, while the woman is turning her head to the right and looking out at the viewer. In the lower right composition the woman is holding the child to the left and they are looking at each other. They are seated on a structure with wheels and a curtain behind, and there is a child with a halo on either side holding on to this structure. Text from the accompanying booklet produced by the Vasari Society: "Nos. 15, 16 MARCO ZOPPO (Working 1465-1498) EIGHT STUDIES OF THE VIRGIN AND CHILD British Museum, 1904-12-1-1. From the Bini, Novelli and Salting Collections. Pen and bistre. 27.7 x 17.8 cm. (10 7/8 x 7 in.) These drawings have strongly marked the characteristics of the earlier schools of Ferrara and Bologna. The pen technique, the treatment of draperies and much in the design recall Mantegna, but there is the note of fantastic exaggeration perculiar to Ferrara. Besides Mantegna, the artist has clearly come under the influence of Cosimo Tura, and perhaps also of Crivelli. The treatment of the garland encircling the Virgin seen in the lower left-hand drawing, is one that both Crivelli and Zoppo affect. Certain characteristics are so near to Cosimo Tura's work, that but for their want of strength the drawings might almost be ascribed to him. The attribution of Zoppo, however, seems perfectly satisfactory, especially in comparison with the great altar-piece at Berlin, which is the best work of that master. R. E. F. No. 15 was etched by Francesco Novelli at Venice in 1795 as the work of Mantegna. The drawing was then in the possession of Novelli himself, to whom it had been presented by the painter Alberto Pietro Bini. The Ducal Museum at Brunswick possesses a sheet of drawings, attributed provisionally to Tura, which must be regarded as a leaf from the same sketch-book. Both technique and paper, with its slight reddish stain, are identical in character, while a slight discrepancy in the dimensions - the Brunswick sheet measures 26.5 x 18.6 cm. - is easily accounted for by a different degree of mutilation. On one side the Virgin is drawn seated on the ground with the Child in her lap, Joseph and St. John the Baptist standing by; on the other side, the Virgin adores the new-born Babe in the stable, in the presence of Joseph and a shepherd. C. D."