(1518–1595) The Last Supper, black chalk, pen and brown ink, heightened with white, on laid paper, inscribed and dated “Tintoreto / 666”, 27,8 x 51,8 cm, completely fixed to old support with gold framing lines (executed by Francouis Renaud in Paris in the 18th century), mounted, framed, (Sch)

Provenance:
Collection Antoine Dezallier (1642–1716), Paris (?); collection Antoine-Joseph Dezallier d’Argenville (1665–1740), Paris, Lugt 2951; His sale, Paris, 18th-28th January 1779, as part of lot 163 (“Adoration of the shepherds and several other compositions and figures , by Jacopo Robusti, called Tintoretto; 14 drawings in total”); collection C (Lugt 474 and 3510), France (?); collection Francois Renaud (18th century), Paris, Lugt 1042, his dry stamp “FR” and his mount; Auction sale Paris, Drouot, 6th December 1993, lot 8; Auction sale Paris, Christie’s, 22nd June 2005, lot 1 (as “attributed to Tintoretto”); Private collection, France.

Literature:
Catalogue des desins de grand maîtres des écoles d’Italie, des Pays-Bas et de France et d’un recueil d’estampes de feu monsieur d’Argenville, Catalogue ed. by Pierre Rémy, Paris, 18th-28th January 1779, p. 24, lot 163; Jacqueline Labbé and Lise Bicart Sée, La Collection de dessins d’Antoine Joseph Dezallier d’Argenville reconstitutée d’après son Abrégé de la vie des plus fameux peintres, edition de 1762, Paris, 1996, p. 143, No 666 (Ill.); Paola Rossi, I Disegni di Jacopo Tintoretto, Florence 1975.

The present drawing is related to the painting “The Last Supper” (c. 1574) by Jacopo Tintoretto in the Chiesa di San Polo in Venice. The composition differs from the painting in several details such as the missing landscape background and the omission of the standing figure at the right margin. Nonetheless, the certainty and freedom of the lines, the sense of volume, the attentive rendering of the expressions and details once led the drawing to be considered an authentic preliminary drawing by Tintoretto for the painting in San Paolo and it seduced the grand collectors in the past. The history of the “Last Supper” as evidenced by several marks is no less fascinating than its interpretation and the long provenance of the drawing, which can be traced back to the 18th century, gives proof to the great significance which former owners ascribed to the sheet.

The first collectors mark, composed of a number and a small flourish in the form of a bow and the assumed name of the artist (“Tintoreto”) is that of Antoine-Joseph Dezallier d’Argenville. Master of accounts at the Chamber of Accounts in Paris and kings’s councillor, Dezallier d’Argenville was a naturalist and member of many scientific societies and a great collector of drawings. One part of his collection came from his father, Antoine Dezallier, who had bequeathed eight albums of drawings. Other drawings had been purchases by Dezallier d’Argenville himself during his travels and in sales such as that of Pierre Crozat in 1741, where he was one of the most active private buyers. The second mark on the present drawing, a flowery capital C fixed on the lower right corner, was also formerly attributed to Crozat. Research has not yet made it possible to identify this amateur whose uneven collection seems to have been constituted during the second half of the 18th century and scattered in Great Britain over the following century. The drawing is still mounted in the original mat made by the French collector, dealer and frame manufacturer Francois Renaud in Paris, who had mounted several drawings for Dezallier d’Argenville.

The attribution to Tintoretto was accepted until 2005, when the study was sold at an auction at Christie’s in Paris (22nd June 2005, lot 1) as “attributed toTintoretto”. However, the sheet’s former attribution to Tintoretto must be excluded according to today’s state of research. Compared to other well-known preliminary studies for the painting, such as the back view of the standing man for the figure at the left margin (Victoria und Albert Museum, London, Inv. Dyce 242), there are also stylistic differences which suggest that the present drawing was probably made by a follower of Tintoretto rather than by the artist himself. In this context, an alternative attribution to an artist from the circle of Francesco Bassano (1549-1592) or Pedro de Orrente (1580-1645) has been suggested.