Roman Soldier Galloping on Horseback and Holding a Banner
Ca. 1517-25
Pen and brown ink
22.5 x 18 cm
On loan from the Tobey Collection
Domenico Campagnola was an Italian painter, draftsman and printmaker. Although Domenico was the adopted son of artist Giulio Campagnola, with whom he studied in Venice, he strayed from his father’s style and became a follower of the great Venetian artist Titian, embracing the freer and bolder forms of Titian as seen in Roman Soldier Galloping on Horseback. This drawing captures the essence and vitality of the subject matter through the use of expressive cross-hatching lines, which created intricate detail without heavy shading.
The composition presents an anonymous mounted soldier who is wearing ancient Roman-style armor, cape, and boots. The background is blank, only showing a few lines on the bottom indicating a ground, which focuses the viewer’s attention solely on the soldier. The soldier is presented in the drawing with his head foreshortened as he gazes back, while his horse twists its head in the opposite direction. This complex positioning suggests that the artist was well informed in human and animal anatomy. Their dramatic poses add to the energy of the piece, which is also felt in the giant banner waving overhead. Domenico was an avid printmaker, often rendering his drawings into woodcuts. A very similar horse and rider found in Domenico’s later woodcut print The Massacre of the Innocents may suggest that this drawing was a preliminary study for his later print.
Grace Hammond