7 - Gaspare Diziani (attrib.)

Gaspare Diziani (attrib.) Study for a vault decoration featuring a male figure and a lion Pen and brown ink, brown watercolor on laid paper. 219 x 279 mm The sheet depicts a male figure accompanied by a lion, set within a curvilinear field that tapers sharply downward, likely conceived for use as a decoration on a vault, a rib, or a pinnacle. The strongly foreshortened construction of the figures and the accentuated diagonal flow of the composition attest to the artist’s focus on a view from below, a characteristic of his work intended for monumental decoration.The presence of the lion allows us to hypothesize, albeit with the necessary caution, that the figure represents Saint Mark the Evangelist. In this sense, the sheet could be linked to one of the decorative cycles in which Diziani addressed the theme of the Evangelists within vaulted spaces.Particularly striking is the comparison with the vault ribs of the church of San Biagio in Cornegliana, near Due Carrare (Padua), decorated with the four Evangelists and attributed to Gaspare Diziani. The distinctive composition of the panel and the subject depicted make it plausible that this drawing is connected to that commission. On the reverse are three anatomical studies of legs.