This exquisite catalog of sixty-five Italian drawings ranging in date from 1525 to 1835 celebrates the second part of a major acquisition made by the National Gallery of Art in late 2007, the purchase of one of the finest private European holdings of old master drawings, the Wolfgang Ratjen Collection. The drawings presented here and in the accompanying exhibition span the last flowering of the Renaissance to the rise of neoclassicism. Included are works by such luminaries as Guercino, Giorgio Vasari, Carlo Maratta, and Giovanni Battista Tiepolo. The selection juxtaposes remarkable works by masters such as Giulio Romano, Federico Barocci, and Giovanni Battista Piranesi with sheets by less well known artists such as Ambrogio Figino and Antonio Cavallucci. It features an excellent series of religious compositions, fine works by Neapolitan artists, and a rich assemblage of drawings by several Venetian artists. Many individual pieces are of special importance: a mythological composition by Luca Penni, a powerfully sculptural work by Pellegrino Tibaldi, an enchanting nature drawing by Jacopo Ligozzi, and a moving religious piece by Guillaume Courtois. The indisputable star, however, is a beautiful Venetian festival by the great view painter Canaletto.
