Evangelisten Markus 1555 - 1619

Curator: Let's turn our attention now to a striking image entitled "Evangelisten Markus" – that's Saint Mark, if you're not fluent in old tongues. It's a drawing rendered in ink and pencil on paper, created sometime between 1555 and 1619 by Giovanni Battista Trotti. Currently, this drawing is held here at the SMK, Statens Museum for Kunst. Editor: My immediate reaction is...wow, look at that face. I feel like he’s staring right into my soul, pondering the infinite mysteries with a seriousness that only centuries of beard-growing can bring. And a slightly cross-eyed lion. Curator: Indeed. The composition displays Mannerist traits, visible in the elongated figure, and the rather artificial pose. Saint Mark’s placement, standing atop books with a lion at his side, adheres to the traditional iconography, while his cross and open book are clearly symbolic attributes denoting his saintly role as author of one of the Gospels. Editor: I see a ton of swirling movement, especially around his beard and robes, despite it being, essentially, a sketch. Like, it’s captured movement itself, don’t you think? It's not static. There is a definite energy. Is it me or is there a little bit of cheeky humor here too. Curator: Cheeky? Perhaps that is subjective. However, the draughtsmanship, while rapid, does demonstrate Trotti's understanding of anatomy and drapery. Observe the chiaroscuro effects achieved through varied line weights; it adds volume and dimension to an otherwise linear work. There's a sophistication, despite its seemingly unfinished quality. Editor: Unfinished, maybe, but that’s part of its charm, no? It’s raw, immediate, like we’re catching a glimpse of Trotti wrestling with his ideas right there on the page. I am struck by how such rudimentary use of line and ink brings this man and his symbolic lion to life. Curator: An astute observation. The work certainly presents an intimate view into the artistic process, a dialogue between the artist and his subject—a theological figure steeped in symbolism and artistic interpretation. Editor: Exactly, it's this sense of discovery, of a dialogue happening right before us that I find so compelling. That a four-hundred-year-old sketch still crackles with so much creative voltage—makes you wonder what St. Mark would make of it all!