The first exhibition to focus specifically on Tintoretto’s work as a draftsman, Drawing in Tintoretto’s Venice provides new ideas about his evolution as a draftsman, about the dating and function of the so-called “sculpture drawings,” and about Tintoretto’s place in the Venetian tradition.

The exhibition begins with drawings by Tintoretto’s predecessors and contemporaries, including Titian, Veronese, and Jacopo Bassano, to show his sources as well as his individuality. Tintoretto’s distinctive figure drawings are the heart of the show, which includes both preparatory drawings and a group of his studies after sculptures by Michelangelo and others that document the teaching practice in Tintoretto’s workshop. The exhibition also considers artists whose drawing style was influenced by Tintoretto’s, particularly his son Domenico Tintoretto and Palma Giovane. A final section of the exhibition considers an interesting group of drawings—always connected with Tintoretto and his followers—that has recently been proposed as the work of the young El Greco, dating from his time in Venice.

An accompanying catalog will be written by John Marciari, the Charles W. Engelhard Curator and head of the department of drawings and prints at the Morgan Library & Museum, possibly with contributions from other scholars. The exhibition curator in Washington is Jonathan Bober, Andrew W. Mellon Senior Curator of Prints and Drawings, National Gallery of Art.