Titian to Canaletto: Drawing in Venice

Venetian artists exuded little respect for drawing according to rumour-mongers in 16th-century Florence. However, the vibrancy of the shoreline city ensured its reputation as a cosmopolitan centre, the eclectic mix of people it attracted promoting cultural and artistic diversity.

Although free brushwork and vivid colours are traditionally synonymous with Venetian art, the signifi cance of drawing was palpable. It is now brought to life, ironically, because of the great collection at the Uffi zi in Florence which, along with treasures from Oxford’s Ashmolean and Christ Church Picture Gallery, links two major cities of collecting and creates a ground-breaking exhibition that highlights drawing as a medium for artists in Venice over three centuries.

The exhibition begins around 1500 with Tiziano Vecellio as an emerging talent. Contemporaries such as Giovanni Bellini, Vittore Carpaccio and Jacopo Tintoretto are well represented among the 100 drawings, many of which showcase the broad use of black-and-white chalks nurturing new heights of naturalism and sensuousness. Tonal techniques, pen-and-ink representations and layered drawings on blue paper all encapsulate drawing’s minimalism, luring the eye to form rather than colour, and readily depicting movement.

Continuing up to 1750 and the foundation of the fi rst academy of art in Venice, here are numerous examples of captivating portraits by Giovanni Battista Piazzetta and Giovanni Tiepolo and the intricacies of Tintoretto’s studies.

The third gallery is devoted to more than 20 monumental drawings by one of the UK’s most celebrated contemporary artists, Jenny Saville. ‘Drawing is seen as an ancient, academic activity but it is still relevant and as fundamental as singing or dancing,’ Jenny says. ‘I want to show the viability of drawing now. There’s movement in drawing, a freedom of expression; it’s a less static state than painting.’

Many of Jenny’s drawings were created for the Ashmolean’s latest exposition and, like those in the previous galleries, illustrate a relationship between movement and the musculature of the body. Not only does she favour the same medium, the detail it exposes refl ects that created by Venetian predecessors. The scale of Jenny’s work may be incomparable, but her fl owing style embraces a fusion that crosses centuries. 

Until 10 January at the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford: 01865-278000, www.ashmolean.org