About this artwork
This is one of a number of drawings the artist made to illustrate scenes from Torquato Tasso’s epic poem Jerusalem Delivered (Gerusalemme liberata), first published in 1581. In order to avert a massacre, Sophronia (seen at left) enters the palace of the Muslim ruler of Jerusalem to plead her Christian people’s innocence.
Andrea Boscoli’s style is characterized by a heavy use of wash, with a calligraphic line that delineates form with great subtlety. He juxtaposes a plunging perspective at left with the up-close palace colonnade at right to create a sense of negative-positive visual tension.
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Status
- Currently Off View
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Department
- Prints and Drawings
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Artist
- Andrea Boscoli
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Title
- Sophronia Enters the Palace of Aladin
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Place
- Italy (Artist's nationality)
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Date
- Made 1604–1606
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Medium
- Pen and brown ink, and brush and brown wash, over touches of red chalk, on cream laid paper, laid down on blue laid laminated card
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Inscriptions
- Inscribed recto by the artist, upper edge, in pen and brown ink: "Mirata da ciascun passa è non mira"; bottom edge, in pen and brown ink: "la bella Donna e innanzi al Re sen viene (Admired by all, heedless went the lovely maid / ‘til to the presence of the king she came)"; upper right, in pen and brown ink: "1"; lower right, in pen and brown ink: "J.B."; verso, bottom edge of mount, in pen and brown ink underlined in graphite: "Andrea Boscoli florentino"
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Dimensions
- 23.9 × 17.9 cm (9 7/16 × 7 1/16 in.)
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Credit Line
- Gift of Richard and Mary L. Gray
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Reference Number
- 2022.67
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IIIF Manifest
- https://api.artic.edu/api/v1/artworks/202158/manifest.json
Extended information about this artwork
Object information is a work in progress and may be updated as new research findings emerge. To help improve this record, please email . Information about image downloads and licensing is available here.
