122 - Giulio Campi (c. 1500 – Cremona – 1572), Shepherd’s Scene after Ovid.

Giulio Campi (c. 1500 – Cremona – 1572), Shepherd’s Scene after Ovid. Ink, washed with white highlights over pen, on handmade paper, mounted on cardboard with a Lavis mat. (c. 1545–50). Approx. 16 x 24.5 cm. This meticulously executed and beautifully composed drawing can now be attributed for the first time to the work of the Cremona-born Renaissance artist Giulio Campi. Our sheet appears to depict a scene from Ovid’s *Metamorphoses*, which Campi was studying as part of his preparations for the frescoes in the Palazzo Aldegatti in Mantua. Alongside a number of fellow artists, Campi worked here from 1545 to 1550 on the murals, which depict Jupiter’s amorous adventures. Other finely executed drawings by the artist from this project in Mantua have survived, such as “Jupiter and Astraea” at the Metropolitan Museum in New York and “Jupiter and Antiope” at the British Museum in London. Not only does the level of execution in these drawings correspond to the elaborate technique of brown wash with white highlights over pen-and-ink drawing, but the dimensions of the two drawings from New York and London are also identical to those of the present drawing, save for minimal deviations. The composition—with the figures embedded in the landscape—and the extremely elegant drawing style, down to the smallest details, are also comparable. Thus, Campi’s distinctive drawing style can be particularly well observed in the depicted foliage and the decoratively rendered folds of the garments, as well as in the parallel and cross-hatching in the shadowed areas. Provenance: Private collection, Germany. Taxation: subject to margin scheme (VAT: Margin Scheme).