Dimensions: support: 141 x 193 mm
Copyright: CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 DEED, Photo: Tate
Editor: So, this drawing, "An Amorino with a Lamb," by Isaac Oliver, shows a cherubic figure nestled with a lamb. It feels incredibly tender. What stands out to you about the composition? Curator: Ah, tenderness indeed! The oval composition softens the potentially bold eroticism of the period. Oliver's delicate washes create a dreamlike, idealized world. Does the cupid look trapped or free to you? Editor: I hadn’t thought of it that way, but trapped, almost. What does that mean, exactly? Curator: Perhaps a commentary on innocence constrained, or maybe just a pretty picture. What's art without a little mystery? Editor: That’s a great point. I definitely see more depth in this drawing now. Thanks!
Comments
http://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/oliver-an-amorino-with-a-lamb-t09132
Join the conversation
Join millions of artists and users on Artera today and experience the ultimate creative platform.
The French-born Isaac Oliver, although principally active as a portrait miniaturist (see cabinet 1: The Portrait Miniature in the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries), also made drawings in pen and ink. Both the technique and subject-matter of these drawings reveal Oliver's knowledge of Continental art, gained from travel abroad - he was in Venice in 1596 - and from studying imported engravings. This is one of thirteen drawings that he signed, using the original French form of his surname, 'Ollivier'. Gallery label, September 2004
CollectMore like this
