Artwork
Drawing from the Ionides Album
Drawing from the Ionides Album is a drawing by the Baroque artist Parmigianino. It is held in the collection of the Victoria and Albert Museum.
About this work
Overview
The sheet, catalogued as folio 47v in the Ionides Album, is a pen-and-ink drawing with wash that presents a small group of figures rendered in classical dress. A black ink border frames the image, which is part of an album compiled in the late eighteenth or early nineteenth century and containing a mixture of prints and drawings.
Subject & Meaning
Four individuals occupy the composition: two women engaged in conversation with a bearded man, a second bearded figure standing behind them, and a child positioned in the lower left, leaning toward the central woman. The attire and relaxed pose suggest an intimate, perhaps domestic, scene rather than a formal narrative.
Technique & Style
The artist employs fine stippling, densely packed dots, to model shadows and surface texture, complemented by broader washes that soften transitions between light and dark. This combination allows for subtle gradations without relying on bold contour lines, creating a gentle, flowing quality in the drapery and hair.
History & Provenance
An inscription beneath the image identifies the work as a later copy after Parmigianino, indicating that the drawing reproduces a composition originally by the sixteenth‑century Mannerist master. The piece resides in the Ionides Album, a collection assembled by the Ionides family, known for gathering artworks and prints during the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries.
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Artist & collection
Artist
Girolamo Francesco Maria Mazzola (11 January 1503 – 24 August 1540), also known as Francesco Mazzola or, more commonly, as Parmigianino (UK: US: Italian:; "the little one from Parma"), was an Italian Mannerist painter…
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