The Worship of the Golden Calf.

Drawing, pen and brown ink, brown wash, 34 x 50 cm, laid paper, unsigned (laid down on paper support, age-toned paper, vertical folds at center, trimmed to the image, stain at upper left corner).

Under passe-partout.

The composition of this drawing corresponds to the lower section of Tintoretto´s (1518-1594) great canvas of The Worship of the Golden Calf, which hangs on the left-hand wall of the choir of the church of the Madonna dell´Orto, Venice (1562-1563). The drawn copy is of good linear quality and is clearly drawn by a competent hand. It faithfully reproduces the figures in the lower section of the composition in correct proportion to each other as well as to the overall design. The works by the Venetian masters Tintoretto, Veronese and Titian served as a major source of learning and inspiration for many 17th-century artists visiting La Serenissima. The sheet has a ms. attribution on verso to "Del Spagnoleto (sic)", which was the nickname of José de Ribera (1592-1652), who had spent a long time working in Italy. Yet we cannot find many stylistic correspondence to the attributed drawn oeuvre of the great Spanish Baroque painter. Attesting to the popularity of Tintoretto's painting is another early drawn copy after this painting, now in the collection of the Museo del Prado (D002960).
Prov. Unidentified dry stamp on verso (possibly Lugt 619). - Ms. note "Zecchino".