The Italian Baroque Drawings of the 17th Century in the Städel Museum

Stefania Girometti (Städel Museum, Frankfurt)

The research project on the Städel Museum’s Italian Baroque drawings (2021–2023), funded by the Gabriele Busch-Hauck Foundation, aimed to strengthen the research into and underpin an exhibition of Johann Friedrich Städel’s drawing collection. Following an overall survey of almost 700 sheets, 90 works have been selected and analysed in depth, some of them being comprehensively studied for the first time. The results of this research will be presented in a catalogue and an exhibition (October 2024 – January 2025).
The works, selected for their quality and function, convey an impression of the broad spectrum of techniques and the diverse applications of the medium of drawing in 17th-century Italy. Drawings by prominent representatives of Baroque art – such as Annibale, Agostino and Ludovico Carracci, Guercino, Gianlorenzo Bernini and Salvator Rosa – have been examined along with examples by lesser-known artistic figures such as Giovanni Maria Morandi and Ciro Ferri. The in-depth study of the holdings has led to new attributions and iconographic interpretations as well as the clarification of interrelationships between works within the oeuvres of some of the artists. Here, the technical analysis of the drawings plays a key role. The scholarly analysis of the works has been carried out in close exchange with the project’s mentors, Dr Sonja Brink and Dr Carel van Tuyll van Serooskerken, as well as numerous research colleagues. The project contributes substantially to the study and exhibition of the Städel Museum’s collection of drawings and the effort to make them accessible to the public.