Master Drawings, Summer 2022

“Copy or coincidence?” questions Alexander McCargar, in the new issue of MASTER DRAWINGS (Vol 60, Issue 2).  In it he proposes the influential role eighteenth-century scenographer Pietro Righini likely had on his contemporaries. McCargar, winner of the fourth annual Ricciardi prize, brings his expertise in set design to analyze Righini’s successful career alongside that of the renowned Bibiena family, celebrated designers of the stage.

The prize-winning essay is joined by an eclectic array of drawing scholarship including a fascinating examination of sixteenth-century artist Joris Hoefnagel’s use of lepidochromy, a transfer printing process using real insect wings. Read how conservator-curator team Kimberly Schenck and Stacey Sell of the National Gallery of Art in Washington, reveal how more than meets the eye in the artist’s beautiful depictions of insects.

You also don’t want to miss Jennifer Tonkovich’s illuminating examination of William Hogarth’s drawings for his iconic prints, “Beer Street,” and “Gin Lane;” a newly identified scene from the story of Esther by sixteenth-century Flemish artists known as the Pseudo-Aert Ortkens Group; and a discussion of three new attributions to sixteenth-century artist Giovanni Battista Ricci.

The issue closes with two very important and thorough reviews of publications on Rembrandt drawings: the complete catalogue raisonné by Peter Schatborn and Erik Hinterding as well as a volume by Achim Gnann devoted to the master’s landscapes.

Subscribe now to read this absorbing issue. Free digital access is also included with your subscription!