Allegory of Summer – 18th century French school after Bassano

Our composition is an allegorical representation of Summer, largely inspired by the 16th-century Venetian colorist Jacopo Bassano. Beyond the interpretation of a work often imitated by European painters of subsequent centuries, this drawing remains nonetheless original: the choice of medium (black chalk and gouache) in a monochrome version, rather than attempting to recreate Bassano’s palette, makes it a unique collector’s piece.

The drawing is simply presented in a bevelled mount (marie-louise) under UV-protective and anti-reflective glass, within a profiled blackened wood frame.

Dimensions: 19 x 30 cm (sheet) – 39 x 50 cm (with frame)

Biography:
Jacopo Bassano (Bassano del Grappa c. 1510 – ibid., 13 February 1592) began his training in the Venetian workshop of Bonifacio de’ Pitati in the 1530s. Working mainly on church decorations, he drew inspiration notably from the Mannerism of Pordenone. Influenced by the engravings of Titian and Raimondi, he was also able to work from nature. From the 1560s onwards, he moved away from Mannerism, focusing increasingly on the treatment of light contrasts. His sacred paintings, treated in a pastoral vein, were so successful that he established a workshop with his son Francesco. In the 1570s, he depicted biblical scenes within small landscapes that also feature genre scenes, as in the Summer that inspired our artist. A sign of the esteem in which he was held by his contemporaries, Paolo Veronese portrayed him alongside Titian and Tintoretto playing music in The Wedding at Cana, now in the Louvre.