The Resurrection
Marco Zoppo (Marco Ruggeri known as Lo Zoppo)
An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art
Zoppo, a painter and draftsman active in Padua, Venice, and Bologna, was a friend of Andrea Mantegna and was admired in North-Italian humanist circles. This rare, large, and highly finished drawing of about 1465–70 depicts the Resurrection, at the moment when Christ has risen from the tomb, while the Roman guards sleep oblivious to the event. The Savior's ascetic anatomy, with gaunt, defined musculature that is unsparingly naturalistic, recalls Donatello's style in the 1450s, when the great Florentine sculptor was at work in the Basilica of Sant'Antonio in Padua. Here, Christ in the foreground seems to move directly toward us, as he raises his hand to give his blessing. Zoppo crisply defined many of the forms throughout the composition with dark wash and fine, carefully applied creamy white gouache highlights against the greenish, light-brown background paper. The definition of the forms and overall chromatic effects liken the composition to a bronze relief. The drawing was likely intended as a finished work, in and of itself, perhaps presented to a patron or friend of the artist. The Met's drawing was previously attributed to Andrea Mantegna, whose style it partly evidences, but is now recognized as an autograph work by Zoppo. A similar study by the artist is the Kneeling Saint now in the British Museum, London (inv. 1875,0710.1039). (CCB)
Drawings and Prints
An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art
The Department’s vast collection of works on paper comprises approximately 21,000 drawings, 1.2 million prints, and 12,000 illustrated books created in Europe and the Americas from about 1400 to the present day. Since its foundation in 1916, the Department has been committed to collecting a wide range of works on paper, which includes both pieces that are incredibly rare and lauded for their aesthetic appeal, as well as material that is more popular, functional, and ephemeral. The broad scope of the department’s collecting encourages questions of connoisseurship as well as those pertaining to function and context, and demonstrates the vital role that prints, drawings, and illustrated books have played throughout history.