Fighting Horsemen c. 1565 - 1566

Luca Cambiaso made this drawing of fighting horsemen with pen and brown ink, and brown wash on cream laid paper. In the 16th century when Cambiaso was working in Italy, wealthy families hired artists to create large-scale battle scenes to decorate their palaces. Such artworks bolstered the patron’s reputation. But this is just a drawing, not a painting or fresco. What would Cambiaso have used it for? Drawings like this one were often made as preparatory studies for paintings. Many artists also used drawings like this to try out new ideas that might or might not be incorporated into a finished work of art. The latter seems more likely to be the case here. Although the drawing shows a familiar subject, Cambiaso’s expressive lines and dramatic scene feel like a kind of experimentation, more about the process of making art than about celebrating the rich and powerful. To understand this drawing better, scholars research the artist’s other works, read critical essays and biographies, and investigate the social and artistic currents of the time.