Ontwerp voor een wandmonument met Cosimo I dei Medici 1594 - 1596

Editor: Here we have Jacopo Ligozzi’s “Ontwerp voor een wandmonument met Cosimo I dei Medici,” a design for a wall monument featuring Cosimo I de’ Medici, dating from 1594-1596. It's a pencil, watercolor, and colored pencil drawing. It’s delicate, but it strikes me as…unfinished, perhaps? What catches your eye in this design? Curator: What intrigues me is not simply the *image* of Cosimo, but the materiality of this drawing as a record of artistic labour. Consider the physical act: the grinding of pigments for the watercolors, the sourcing of the pencils, the very paper itself. What sort of workshop produced these materials? How does the drawing's intended function – a design for a *monument* – relate to the perceived 'fragility' of its materials? Editor: So, the materials themselves tell a story? Curator: Precisely. We often focus on the finished object, the grand monument. But this drawing allows us a glimpse into the *process* – the intellectual and physical labor involved in its creation. Notice the precision of the lines, the delicate washes of color. These were not casually applied; they reflect a craftsman’s skill, learned through years of training. The status of drawing, especially in preparation for large-scale monument should give us insight on the art market back in the days. Editor: I hadn't thought about the labor behind a design like this, more focused on the actual historical figure. The level of planning, and how it bridges what we consider art and what we could just consider craft. It kind of recontextualizes the entire Italian Renaissance. Curator: Indeed! By focusing on the material reality of its creation, we disrupt conventional notions of "high art" and understand artmaking as a process deeply embedded in specific socio-economic conditions. We remember to also acknowledge and appreciate labor in art. Editor: That’s a really valuable perspective. Thanks! It's made me see this design, and Renaissance art itself, in a completely different light.