Czére Andrea szerk.: A Szépművészeti Múzeum közleményei 105. (Budapest, 2006)
ANDREA CZÉRE: Giambettino Cignaroli's Drawing of the Virgin and Child in the Budapest Collection: On the Third Centenary of the Artist's Birth
Veronese settecento. The fundamental standpoint that a derogatory opinion about a particular period of history of art is always due to ignorance and to a lack of knowledge in regard to the material, also explains the quite uncertain and contradictory nature of Cignaroli's characterization and assessment. 7 With his classical, rationally clearly-structured, yet in their forms graceful and elegant works, the painter, who was indeed an internationally knowm and celebrated artist in his day, idiosyncratically coupled the refined forms of cosmopolitan Rome, which was regarded as the cultural centre of Europe, with the art of the capriciously picturesque and colour-oriented Venice. 8 His success was also surely due to the fact that during his career he increasingly adopted the academic, 9 neo-classical approach that was proliferating in the w r ake of the Enlightenment. 10 The ever more conscious, systematizing spirit of the age, responsive to the scholarly approach, along with Cignaroli's methodicalness and his own nature, which was orientated towards a well-disciplined life, 11 must have urged the painter to amply document his works. Consequently, the basic sources of his activities are not only the contemporaneous biographies and collections of documents 12 but also his own correspondence" and his immense drawing-ceuvre. The latter of these has luckily survived throughout the centuries as well, and the greater part of it is preserved in the Library of the Ambrosiana, Milan. 14 It is also a useful source for studying his art, since the artist added annotations to the drawings he collected in three volumes, which throw light on their function and how they relate to the paintings, while in addition to this he often indicated the date of execution. 1 ' This significant source has often proved instrumental in the identification and dating of the artist's paintings and drawings, 16 moreover, it also provides a survey of his predominantly religious themes. Cignaroli's two late paintings from 1762 in the Budapest Museum of Fine Arts with ancient historical themes have long been known in literature. 17 The colligate also contains drawings AGOST1NO MASUCCI, THE VIRGIN WITH THE FOUNDERS OF THE SERVITE ORDER. ROME. S. MARCELLO At CORSO
