Piazzetta

To mark the tercentenary of the birth of the eighteenth-century Venetian painter and draughtsman, Giovanni Battista Piazzetta, the National Gallery of Art in Washington has mounted an exhibition of his most outstanding drawings. Well over a hundred drawings and engravings have been brought together from collections around the world. Piazzetta has enjoyed a resurgence of interest among art historians in this century, but most studies have dwelt on his paintings. Professor Knox has provided a model for methods of dealing with Piazzetta problems: his stylistic development, his mannerisms, his working methods, commercial practices of the day and the dating of the drawings. Features that make the catalogue a truly valuable research tool include: the notes on Venetian money, the checklist of paintings and exhibitions discussed, and the essay on Piazzetta's drawings in the Hermitage for Albrizzi's Gerusalemme Liberata.