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 left and she gazes down at him. The child has his right leg raised, and his left is standing on a cushion on a ledge in front of the figures. He has his left hand cupped under the woman's chin. In the upper right composition, the woman holds the child on the right, and she herself looks out at the viewer with a worried expression. She is seated on a throne and there is another child figure to the left. In the lower left composition the woman holds the child to the left facing forwards. Her face is tilted down to the child, and the child's face looks up at her. They are seated on a throne with a floral arch around them. In the lower right composition the woman cradles the child on her lap with his head to the right. They are seated in front of a structure with a pediment. 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."