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The large altar picture in the Capuchin Church of Our
Lady of the Angels in Hradčany, painted in 1602, is a rather
rare example of Venetian Mannerism in Prague. The artist,
Paolo Piazza, known among monks as Cosimo da Castelfranco,
came to Prague in 1600, as P. Preiss states 2 with the
first monks of the newly founded monastery. The work originated
on the spot; the technical composition was studied during
restoration work, executed by the authoress of this article
and ak. mal. Magdalena Černá, in 1978-1982. Only after
the removal of three layers of continuous overpainting
a rich scale of refined tones was revealed, in which
especially sulphur yellow combined with pinkish violet
shades have been typical of Venetian painting ever since
the time of Paolo Veronese, whose pupil Paolo Piazza may
have been, after having learnt under Jacopo Palma the
Younger. But detailed investigation of the technique disclosed
other details that indicate inspiration by the technique
of Jacopo Tintoretto.
The rather light brown ground contains a mixture
of chalk and lead white with an admixture of yellow and
red ochres and black ; it is bound with oil with an admix
tun I of protein. The unfinished edges afforded a rare
opportunity of observing the preparatory drawing, done
in dark brown paint, and the flat underpainting of the
I same tone that plans the composition. The shadows
and outlines of the figures were then accentuated with
black paint, while the heights of the modelling were emphasized
with the sharp application of white.
This method of black and white underpainting is exceptional
in Venetian painting and has been found only in the case
of Tintoretto The painting links onto the traditional
layer method of the addition of basic tones and glazes,
though presented in the painters own brush work. The underpainting
of the lights with lead white is particularly expressive
in the blue and carmine red draperies, where the glaze
forms a connected layer. The range of tones is enriched
by a further variant, when the basic layer in red
is modelled in the shadows with red lake and in the lights
with minium. The green glaze of the copper resinate type
is combined in the lights with lead yellow. The picture
is an interesting example of the transition from late
Renaissance painting to the baroque conception of light
and shadow, which prevails in the further development
of the 17th century.
 author
Radana Hamsíková, AHVT B 012 (N. H.)
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Paolo Piazza (Cosimo da Castelfranco)
Altar picture after restoration, general view.
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