Drapery studies are xtremely well-finished, representing figure and nude patterns concerning the phase previous to the carton in the preparation of the work.
The Diotti Museum preserves a collection of such studies related to oil paintings or frescos created during Diotti's later period in 1836 and 1840. They entered the Scuola Bottoli collection during the 1930s, from Diotti's home after his death and after many changes in ownership.
These drawings are essential for the "study of the fold" and they show again, after decades, the influence of Leonardo's A Treatise on Painting teachings, which were learned by young Diotti. In the Treatise, Leonardo dedicated a whole chapter to draperies. Chiaroscuro secrets and games of reflection and shadow are understood through the study of draperies; it is also understood how to hide-reveal the human body's forms with the purpose of accentuating figures' movements. The draw of folds, especially on mannequins, was one of the basic subjects until the mid-nineteenth century in the modern Academies of fine Arts.
The series of drawings on blue paper preserved in the Museum, some of them double-sided, prepare for: the Virgin Mary's drapery in Adorazione dei Magi fresco (Church of Rudiano, in the district of Brescia); Isaac, Jacob and Rebecca's cloaks, who are the three characters inside the great painting of Benedizione di Giacobbe (Church of Alzano Lombardo, in the district of Bergamo), and San Pietro penitente (painted for the Church of Iseo, Brescia); and the man's cape who supports the torch in the Bacio di Giuda, which is a great canvas commissioned by Emperor Ferdinand I, who was buying many arts' works from Lombardy for Schönbrunn Palace in Vienna (and still today is preserved in the Kunsthistorisches Museum of that city).
Scuola di disegno "Bottoli" Fund
