The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of April 26, 2024

Temperance

Temperance

1628–30
(Italian, 1581–1641)
Italy, 17th century
black chalk heightened with white chalk, squared with black chalk
Sheet: 59.2 x 43.7 cm (23 5/16 x 17 3/16 in.); Secondary Support: 61.2 x 45.7 cm (24 1/8 x 18 in.); Tertiary Support: 61.2 x 45.7 cm (24 1/8 x 18 in.)
Dudley P. Allen Fund 1964.445
Location: not on view

Did You Know?

Despite having carefully prepared the composition for his fresco of Temperance with this and other drawings, Domenichino left Rome before completing the painting. It was later finished by one of his pupils.

Description

The gridded pattern superimposed over the figures in this scene indicates that this drawing was used a preparatory study for one of Domenichino’s frescoes depicting the four cardinal virtues inside the dome of the Church of San Carlo ai Catinari in Rome. This technique—called squaring—was a common method used in seventeenth-century Italy to transfer a design from one surface to another. Domenichino prepared the design on three separate sheets of paper, all with irregular edges cut and pasted onto a larger sheet. At the top, the allegorical figure of Temperance, one of four cardinal virtues, reclines gracefully on a cloud. She holds a palm branch in her left hand and extends her right out toward a hovering putto in the upper left corner. The changes made to Temperance’s right hand and the presence of two camel heads (only one appears in the finished fresco) reveal the artist’s process for working out the poses and placements of the figures in his composition.
  • ?-?
    Lord Barrymore
    ?-1964
    Prof. J. Isaacs. His sale, Sotheby’s, London, 27 February, 1964, no. 24 (as 17th century Italian School)
    1964
    Gemma Donati
    1964-
    The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
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    Ostrow, Stephen E. Visions & Revisions. Providence: Rhode Island School of Design. 1968. Mentioned: pp. 23-24
    Vitzthum, Walter. Il barocco a Roma. Milan: Fratelli Fabbri, 1971. Mentioned: p. 82; Reproduced: n. VII
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    Macandrew, Hugh. Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, Catalogue of the Collection of Drawings, Vol. III, Italian Schools: Supplement. Oxford: The Clarendon Press, 1980. Mentioned: p. 106
    Olszewski, Edward J., and Jane Glaubinger. The Draftsman's Eye: Late Italian Renaissance Schools and Styles. Cleveland: Published by the Cleveland Museum of Art in cooperation with the Indiana University Press, 1981. Mentioned: pp. 18, 49, 56, 71; Reproduced: p. 70, n. 42
    Viatte, Françoise, and Catherine Monbeig-Goguel. Dessins baroques florentins du Musée du Louvre: LXXIVe exposition du Cabinet des dessins : Musée du Louvre, 2 octobre 1981-18 janvier 1982. Paris: Ministère de la culture, Editions de la Réunion des musées nationaux, 1981. Mentioned: p. 169
    Cazort, Mimi, and Catherine Johnston. Bolognese Drawings in North American Collections, 1500-1800. Ottawa: National Gallery of Canada, National Museums of Canada, 1982. Mentioned: pp. 80-81; Reproduced: p. 202
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    Schloder, John E. Baroque Imagery. Cleveland: Cleveland Museum of Art, 1984. Mentioned: pp. 37-38; Reproduced: p. 37, n. 14
    DeGrazia, Diane, and Carter E. Foster. Master Drawings from the Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland: Cleveland Museum of Art in association with Rizzoli International Publications, New York, 2000. Mentioned: pp. 24, 285; Reproduced: p. 55, n. 17
  • Master Drawings from the Cleveland Museum of Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (August 27-October 17, 2000); The Morgan Library & Museum, New York, NY (May 23-August 19, 2001); Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Houston, TX (October 14, 2001-January 6, 2002).
    Concept, Dogma and Feeling: Italian Drawings 1550-1650. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (August 27-October 20, 1991).
    Italian Drawings from the Permanent Collection. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (December 16, 1986-March 1, 1987).
    Baroque Imagery. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (November 6, 1984-January 6, 1985).
    National Schools of Style. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (June 14-September 18, 1983).
    Connoisseurship in Italian Figural Compositions. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (October 21, 1980-February 15, 1981).
    Idea to Image: Preparatory Studies from the Renaissance to Impressionism. The Cleveland Museum of Art (organizer) (February 19-March 23, 1980).
    The Draftsman's Eye: Late Italian Renaissance Schools and Styles. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (March 6-April 22, 1979).
    Italian Drawings Selected From Mid-Western Collections. Saint Louis Art Museum, St. Louis, MO (organizer) (February 25-April 16, 1972).
    Bolognese Drawings in North American Collections, 1500-1800. National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa, Ont.,, Canada (organizer).
    Visions & Revisions. Museum of Art, Rhode Island School of Design, Providence, RI (October 18-November 24, 1968).
    Italian Prints and Drawings. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (January 30-February 25, 1968).
    Drawings from the Museum Collection. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (June 9, 1967-January 1, 1968).
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    Prints and Drawings from the Cleveland Museum of Art Collection. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (May 6-September 9, 1965).
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  • {{cite web|title=Temperance|url=false|author=Domenichino|year=1628–30|access-date=26 April 2024|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1964.445