Decorative Bowl
n.d.
Medium
Gouache, over traces of black chalk, on ivory laid paper
Dimensions
22.9 × 33.5 cm (9 1/16 × 13 1/4 in.)
Classification
gouache
Department
Prints and Drawings
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
115483
Art Historical Context
Giuseppe Grisoni’s “Decorative Bowl” presents a refined study of an ornamental vessel rendered in gouache over faint black chalk lines on ivory laid paper. Measuring just under ten by thirteen inches, the work captures the subtle curves and decorative motifs of the bowl with careful attention to surface texture and light. As a piece housed in the Prints and Drawings department of the Art Institute of Chicago, it exemplifies the kind of preparatory or independent design that artists often created to explore form and pattern. Gouache’s opaque, velvety quality allows Grisoni to achieve rich colo...
About the Artist
Giuseppe Grisoni · 1699–1769
Giuseppe Grisoni was born in Mons, in the Spanish Netherlands, in 1699, to an Italian family, and his career unfolded across multiple European courts and cultural centers, making him a quintessentially cosmopolitan figure of the early eighteenth century. He received his artistic training in Florence, where he absorbed the rich tradition of Florentine portraiture and absorbed the influence of the G...