Getty Museum

Christ the Saviour above Saints John the Baptist, Jerome, Catherine and Thomas

Date

about 1550–1559

Medium

Pen and brown ink and brown wash over traces of black chalk, heightened with white body color,, on blue paper

Culture

Italian

Department

Drawings

Institution

Getty Museum

In this very finished preparatory study, Christ floats above an unusual cast of saints, probably chosen by the donor because their names corresponded to those of his family. Saint John the Baptist carries his signature staff with a cross at the far left. To his right, the penitent Saint Jerome beats his chest with a stone. Her attribute, the spiked wheel that miraculously splintered apart, accompanies Saint Catherine, and Saint Thomas kneels, hands open in astonishment. For his refined composition, Giuseppe Salviati employed elongated figures in exaggerated poses typical of the Mannerist style. Most striking is the study's lushness, which Salviati achieved through a fluid application of ink, wash, and bodycolor combined across the blue paper. Contrasting the white bodycolor against both the colored paper and deep darks of his washes and ink created a dramatic chiaroscuro. His white washes also created decorative patterns on the saints' draperies and skin. Salviati made the drawing as a study for an altarpiece.

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