The J. Paul Getty Museum

A Man Riding a Bull, and Other Figures

Object Details

Title:

A Man Riding a Bull, and Other Figures

Artist/Maker:

Correggio (Antonio Allegri) (Italian, about 1489 - 1534)

Culture:

Italian

Date:

about 1517–1519

Medium:

Black chalk with pale brown wash

Object Number:

83.GB.344

Dimensions:

21.9 × 17.6 cm (8 5/8 × 6 15/16 in.)

See more

See less

Object Description

Correggio softly contoured and modeled the figures in the foreground with pronounced sfumato , especially the man on the bull. He typically employed this sensuous handling of figures, which he had adopted from Leonardo da Vinci. In contrast with the careful modeling of form and detail in the figures, Correggio rendered the landscape with quick gestures of chalk. This is a rare drawing from his early years and one of the few he made using black chalk.

Scholars are uncertain about the subject of this drawing, but the prominence of a nude man riding a bull in the foreground and figures massed in the background suggests a literary source in Greek and Roman mythology.

Provenance
Provenance
- 1983

Philip Pouncey, English, 1910 - 1990 (London, England), sold to the J. Paul Getty Museum, 1983.

Exhibitions
Exhibitions
Italian Sixteenth-Century Drawings from British Private Collections (August 23 to September 13, 1969)
  • Scottish Arts Council, Merchants Hall (Edinburgh), August 23 to September 13, 1969
The Legacy of Correggio: Sixteenth-Century Emilian Drawings (March 11 to July 15, 1984)
  • National Gallery of Art (Washington, D.C.), March 11 to May 20, 1984
  • Galleria Nazionale (Parma), June 3 to July 15, 1984
North Italian Drawings of the 15th through the 17th Century (July 27 to October 10, 1993)
  • The J. Paul Getty Museum (Malibu), July 27 to October 10, 1993
Drawings by Correggio and Parmigianino (October 6, 2000 to May 6, 2001)
  • The British Museum (London), October 6, 2000 to January 7, 2001
  • The Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York), February 4 to May 6, 2001
Drawings from Leonardo to Titian: A North Italian Itinerary (December 6, 2005 to February 26, 2006)
  • The J. Paul Getty Museum at the Getty Center (Los Angeles), December 6, 2005 to February 26, 2006
Correggio (September 20, 2008 to January 25, 2009)
  • Galleria Nazionale (Parma), September 20, 2008 to January 25, 2009
Correggio e Parmigianino: Arte a Parma nel Cinquecento (March 15 to June 26, 2016)
  • Scuderie del Quirinale (Rome), March 11 to June 26, 2016