Paper short abstract:

This essay will focus on drawing techniques and style in early Settecento Rome. Departing from the study of three sketchbooks by João Glama Ströberle, it will allow space for discussion on draughmanship and on the role of drawing in the production of Marco Benefial, Agostino Masucci and Pompeo Batoni.

Paper long abstract:

This essay will focus on drawing techniques and drawing style in early Settecento Rome. Three sketchbooks by João Glama Ströberle (1708-1792) preserved in the Special Collections of the Getty Research Institute in Los Angeles (acq. num. 2009.M.41, 2009.M.42, 2009.M.43) demonstrate that Portuguese and Spanish painters trained in Rome in three major categories of painting, all based and tuned on appropiate drawing techniques: landscapes, portraiture, and mythological painting.

Analizing the way Stroberle alterned different medias for different themes, I will draw some conclusions on his Roman training in major workshops, in particular in the studios of his teachers Marco Benefial (1684-1764), with whom he trained for seven years, and Agostino Masucci (1691-1768) who ended up being the most coveted italian painter in Portugal at the time of King João V (1689-1750).

The essay overall aims to prove that apart from being a primary resource for the study and the measuring of classical antiquity, the residency in Rome was really considered by the Iberian masters as the occasion learn how to draw: and thus overcome the more traditional training based on the study and copying from foreign prints. The essay also aims to offer a space to discuss the importance of drawing and drawing style in the academic and social milieu of early Settecento Rome.