Landscape with Ruins and a Celestial Apparition
XVI century. Pencil, Grey-brown ink on paper.Not on display
The drawing was traditionally attributed to Lodewijk Toeput, called "Pozzoserrato" (c.1550-c.1605). The present convincing attribution to Pittoni is Ballarin´s, in an undated pencil note on the modern museum mount. The drawing indeed compares well in style with the small group of pen-and-ink studies of landscape by Pittoni in the Louvre (Paris, 1993, nos. 17-20). The compositional type, with capricci of ancient ruins featuring prominently in the design, is inspired by the landscape frescoes of Veronese (1528-1588) in the Villa Maser and elsewhere.
Turner, Nicholas, From Michelangelo to Annibale Carracci. A century of Italian drawings from the Prado, Chicago, Art Services International, 2008, p.354
