(1518–1594)
The Temptation of Adam, black chalk on laid paper, numbered „220” in pen and brown ink at upper right corner, 15 x 20,7 cm, mounted, framed, (Sch)

Provenance:
Anonymous collector’s mark (not with Lugt);
Private collection, Italy.

The present drawing is related to an almost identical sketch by Jacopo Tintoretto in the Museum Bojmans van Beuningen in Rotterdam (Inv. I 81, black chalk, 27,7 x 43,5 cm), which was executed in preparation for the painting “The Temptation of Adam” (c. 1551, Galleria dell’Accademia, Venice). Rearick defended the attribution of the drawing to Jacopo (W. Rearick, „From Drawing to Painting: The Role of Disegno in the Tintoretto Workshop”, 1996, p. 177); Rossi, however, doubted its authenticity (P. Rossi, I disegni di Jacopo Tintoretto, Florence 1975, p. 64), but later reattributed the drawing to the artist. (P. Rossi, „Jacopo Tintoretto: Disegni respinti, precisazioni attributive”, Arte Veneta 65, 2007, p. 108). The present sheet repeats almost identically the sketch in Rotterdam and could be its copy. John Marciari, who mentions the present drawing in his exhibition catalogue „Drawing in Tintoretto’s Venice” (2018) suggests an attribution of the sheet to Domenico Tintoretto (J. Marciari (Ed.), Drawing in Tintoretto’s Venice, Exh. Cat. Pierpont Morgan Library & Museum, New York 2018, p. 141, no 33). However, according to Prof. Mauro Lucco and Prof. Bernard Aikema, the drawing may derive from a member of Jacopo Tintoretto’s workshop.