THE HUMAN BEING IN VIEW ARTISTIC STRATEGIES FOR ITS DEPICTION IN ITALIAN DRAWINGS 1450 – 1750

One of the greatest achievements of the early modern era in art, alongside the perceptual concept of central perspective, was undoubtedly the rediscovery of the human being as a self-determined individual made of flesh and blood. This rediscovery was not an isolated event, but a process of constant and intense observation and analysis. Ever since the Italian Renaissance, the new perception of the human being as a creaturely phenomenon and social being, as a person and character, has manifested itself in many ways, particularly in the art of drawing. Drawing was more open to experimentation than works of representational art such as sculpture and painting. It also offered unique conditions for the new anthropocentric approach which, particularly in Italy, could draw on ancient models that already represented the human being artistically in line with these new aspirations. On this basis, draftsmen developed an altered image of man in the most diverse shadings from the Renaissance through to the late Baroque – an image they helped to shape in a lasting way.

The mission of exploring the human figure through drawing, tracing its naturalness and sensibility, illuminating its behavior and consciousness, was accompanied by the discovery of previously unused drawing media and techniques that were ideal for these new purposes. The potential of using black and red chalk, pastel pencils and wash brushes to see and portray the human being in a new way was explored in a wide variety of graphic approaches. Via an exemplary selection of works, the exhibition "The Human Being in View" focuses on depiction strategies of this kind. However, it does not subject the works to strict systematization whereby each individual sheet serves as proof of a preconceived thesis. Instead, visitors are invited to look at the works attentively, get closer to them and enjoy them, be inspired by them and probe the artistic rationale behind the drawings.

The exhibition includes rarely presented highlights from the Staatliche Graphische Sammlung München, such as the earliest Sienese portrait study by Domenico di Bartolo (around 1400-1447) or the sheet of a male torso in which Michelangelo Buonarroti (1475-1564) uses a new drawing technique he developed with particularly vital effect. Alongside a series of outstanding drawings by Fra Bartolommeo (1472-1517), Jacopo da Pontormo's (1494-1557) brilliant red chalk sheet "Two Standing Women" can also be admired – undoubtedly one of the most beautiful and enigmatic works by this leading exponent of Florentine Mannerism. Also on display are works previously only known to experts, such as Odoardo Fialetti's (1573-1638) "Portrait of a Wreathed Faun" and the self-portrait of Jacopo Amigoni (1682-1752), the most influential representative of Venetian art in southern Germany in the early 18th century.