Figures Deciphering an Inscription, with Two Women Seated [Study for Oeuvres de Bossuet, IV]
c. 1736
![Figures Deciphering an Inscription, with Two Women Seated [Study for Oeuvres de Bossuet, IV] by Giovanni Battista Piazzetta](https://images.artheonmuseum.org/nga/thumb/figures-deciphering-an-inscription-with-two-women-nga-224427.webp)
Medium
black chalk on laid paper, laid down on album sheet
Dimensions
sheet: 12.7 × 21.59 cm (5 × 8 1/2 in.) mount: 17.5 × 25.6 cm (6 7/8 × 10 1/16 in.)
Classification
Drawing
Department
CG-E
Museum
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
Credit
Joseph F. McCrindle Endowment Fund
Accession Number
2022.91.1
About the Artist
Giovanni Battista Piazzetta · 1682–1754
Giovanni Battista Piazzetta was born in Venice in 1682 and trained first under his father, the sculptor and woodcarver Giacomo Piazzetta, before turning decisively to painting. The crucial formative experience of his career came when he traveled to Bologna to study under Giuseppe Maria Crespi, whose dramatic use of chiaroscuro — strong contrasts of light and shadow rooted in the Caravaggesque trad...