Study for 'The Dream of Saint Joseph'

Prints and Drawings

1635/37

Pietro Testa
Italian, 1611/12-1650

This study is the last in the sequence of three composition drawings for The Dream of Saint Joseph. It differs from the other two in the pose of the figure of the Virgin, which, along with the figure of the Christ child, Testa has cut out and attached. Such attention to detail characterizes Testa’s rigorous preparatory process, and it contrasts sharply with the freedom with which he etched the plate.

Status: Currently Off View
Department: Prints and Drawings

Artist: Pietro Testa
Title: Study for 'The Dream of Saint Joseph'
Place: Italy (Artist's nationality:)
Date Dates are not always precisely known, but the Art Institute strives to present this information as consistently and legibly as possible. Dates may be represented as a range that spans decades, centuries, dynasties, or periods and may include qualifiers such as c. (circa) or BCE.: 1635–1637
Medium: Pen and brown ink, with black chalk and traces of incising, on tan laid paper, laid down on cream wove paper
Dimensions: 36.8 × 24.2 cm (14 1/2 × 9 9/16 in.)
Credit Line: Purchased with funds provided by Dorothy Harza, with the assistance of Kate de Rothschild Agius and Marcus Agius, in memory of Laura Harza
Reference Number: 1998.358
IIIF Manifest The International Image Interoperability Framework (IIIF) represents a set of open standards that enables rich access to digital media from libraries, archives, museums, and other cultural institutions around the world. Learn more.: https://api.artic.edu/api/v1/artworks/149719/manifest.json

Ann Sutherland Harris, “Notes on the Chronology and Death of Pietro Testa,” Paragone 213 (1967), p. 52, no. 30.
K. Hartmann, “Pietro Testa: The Chronology of His Work and Evolution of His Style,” Ph.D. dissertation, London University (1970), pp. 41–42, and 144.
Paolo Bellini, L’Opera Incisa di Pietro Testa (Venice, 1976), p. 44.
Hugh Brigstocke, “Some Further Thoughts on Pietro Testa,” Münchner Jahrbuch der Bildenden Kunst 29 (1978), pp. 121 and 146, no. 64, and p. 134, pl. 34.
Michael Jaffé, The Devonshire Collection of Italian Drawings, vol. II (London, 1994), no. 352 (ill.).

London, Kate de Rothschild Fine Art, “Exhibition of Old Master Drawings, ” June 24–July 5, 1985, cat. 4.
Philadelphia Museum of Art, “Pietro Testa (1612-1650), Prints and Drawings,” November 5- December 31, 1988, pp. 48 and 52-53, , cat. 28 (ill.); traveled to the Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Harvard University Art Museums, Cambridge, Mass., January 21-March 19, 1989.

Nicolaes Anthoni Flinck (1646-1723) [Lugt 959]. William Cavendish (died 1729), 2nd Duke of Devonshire, from 1723 [Jaffe 1994]; by descent to Andrew Cavendish, 11th Duke of Devonshire and the Chatsworth Settlement Trustees [Jaffe 1994]; sold, Christie’s, London, July 3, 1984, “Old Master Drawings from Chatsworth,” lot 43. Kate de Rothschild, London, by 1988 [Philadelphia 1988]; sold to the Art Institute, 1998.

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Date Dates are not always precisely known, but the Art Institute strives to present this information as consistently and legibly as possible. Dates may be represented as a range that spans decades, centuries, dynasties, or periods and may include qualifiers such as c. (circa) or BCE.

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IIIF Manifest The International Image Interoperability Framework (IIIF) represents a set of open standards that enables rich access to digital media from libraries, archives, museums, and other cultural institutions around the world.

Learn more.