Skip to Main Content

 Admission is always freeOpen today: 10:00  to 5:00  Directions             Play Artle            

                  -  Visit                      - Visit
                    - Getting Here
                    - Accessibility
                    - Tours, Guides & Maps
                    - Food & Drink
                    - Gallery Shops
                    - Visitor Policies 
                  -  Collection                      - Collection
                    - Highlights
                    - Search the Collection
                    - Artists Search
                    - Acquisition Highlights
                    - Stories
                    - Games 
                  -  Exhibitions                      - Exhibitions
                    - Current
                    - Special Installations
                    - Upcoming
                    - On Tour
                    - Past 
                  -  Calendar                      - Calendar
                    - Films
                    - Performances
                    - Talks
                    - Guided Tours
                    - After Hours
                    - Fun for Kids
                    - Festivals
                    - Workshops 
                  -  Learn                      - Learn
                    - Teachers
                    - Families
                    - Teens
                    - Adults
                    - Learning Resources
                    - Music Programs
                    - Film Programs 
                  -  Conservation                      - Conservation
                    - Projects
                    - Publications
                    - Resources 
                  -  Research                      - Research
                    - The Center
                    - Publications
                    - Make an Appointment
                    - Archives
                    - Library
                    - NGA Online Editions 
                  -  Support                      - Support
                    - Donate Now
                    - National Membership
                    - Circle Membership
                    - Leadership Groups
                    - Planned Giving
                    - Major Giving
                    - Gifts of Art 
                  -  Shop                      - Shop
                    - Books
                    - Jewelry
                    - Apparel & Accessories
                    - Kids
                    - NGA Custom Prints 
                  -  Play Artle

Home>Research>Center for Advanced Study in the Visual Arts>Research Projects>Members' Research Report Archive>Basile Baudez, 2017–2018

About Fellowships

Senior Fellowships

Visiting Senior Fellowships

Postdoctoral Fellowships

Center/YCBA Postdoctoral Fellowships

Predoctoral Dissertation Fellowships

Center Members

Members’ Presentations

Former Members

Members’ Research Reports, 2011–2018

About Center Meetings

Recent & Upcoming Meetings

A. W. Mellon Lectures in the Fine Arts

Wyeth Foundation for American Art Programs

Sydney J. Freedberg Lectures on Italian Art

Research at the Center

The Index of American Design

History of Early American Landscape Design

The History of the Accademia di San Luca, c. 1590–1635

About the Center Publications

Recent & Upcoming Publications

Reflections on the Collection: The Edmond J. Safra Visiting Professors at the National Gallery of Art

Studies in the History of Art

Seminar Papers

*Center Report*

From the *Bulletin*

Research Publications

Special Publications

National Gallery of Art Shop

# Members' Research Report Archive

*Between Original Drawing and Printed Multiples, Tracing Paper as Commodity: Antonio Senape's Italian Landscape Albums*

**Basile Baudez**, Millon Architectural History Guest Scholar, June 1–30, 2017

Antonio Senape,*Chiaia from Posillipo*, page 9 of *Souvenir Album with Views of Naples, Southern Italy, and Sicily*, c. 1848. National Gallery of Art, Washington, Purchased as the Gift of Joan and David Maxwell

Art and architectural historians have given little attention to the history and use of tracing paper despite its centrality to a wide range of practices since the sixteenth century. Produced through an infusion of chemically unstable oil, wax, butter, or varnish or consisting of standard paper heavily beaten through a mechanical process, tracing paper is inherently fragile, and thus the existing literature concentrates primarily on problems of conservation and treatment. Early modern artists appear to have understood transparent papers as merely an intermediary, material step facilitating either copying or preparation for engraving. Although tracing paper is well documented in artists’ manuals, inventories, and sales catalogs, few early examples survive, and even fewer were collected. From the end of the eighteenth century, however, the number of extant examples rises remarkably. Tracing paper enabled artists to copy and circulate motifs from objects unlikely to be removed from Italy, as well as from works in private collections, and it facilitated publication in albums of antique figures and ornaments.

In the first half of the nineteenth century, transparent paper began to serve purposes beyond copying. Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres (1780–1867), for example, used transparent papers as part of a complex working process. The Louvre sketchbooks of Louis-François Cassas (1756–1827) and Prosper Barbot (1798–1878), made in Italy in 1820–1822, attest to travelers’ use of transparent paper, which was both lightweight and water-resistant. There is also a small group of remarkable travel albums on tracing paper that were not intended for personal or workshop use but were acquired as finished works by collectors on the Grand Tour. They document how, for the first time, tracing paper was used for drawings that were aimed explicitly at the market. My research while in residence at CASVA focused on a superlative example of this idiosyncratic, short-lived use of tracing paper, a recently acquired album of Italian views by Antonio Senape (1788–after 1853) in the National Gallery of Art collection.

Senape was one of the most prolific Neapolitan *vedutisti*of the first half of the nineteenth century. The Gallery’s album, dated 1848, exemplifies the technique that became synonymous with Senape’s name, the “disegno con la penna.” It consists of sixty-five line drawings on transparent paper depicting horizontal vistas of Campania, Sicily, and northern Italy. Senape composed such ambitious, meticulously executed albums for Grand Tourists. My research revealed that the album was purchased by an Irish aristocrat, Archibald, Viscount Acheson, who toured Italy with his family in the autumn of 1848. The album belonged to the world of the antiquarian amateur, who, by purchasing such an object, was able to bring back not only views but also evidence of an exchange with a celebrated *vedutista*.

At CASVA, I had the opportunity to study the album closely and, in conversation with Michelle Facini, paper conservator at the National Gallery of Art, to identify the highly specific materials that Senape chose. The paper is of a heavily beaten type bought in rolls that contemporary advertisements indicate were sold by color merchants. Beaten paper is less transparent than tracing papers impregnated with other substances, but it has the benefit of aging much better, thereby serving more easily as a support for a finished work than as an intermediary, ephemeral tool. In order to secure these fragile sheets, Senape had them meticulously pasted onto the album’s support of thick, very high-quality Italian paper using cellulose glue.

While at CASVA I was able to situate the NGA album among comparable albums by Senape on the art market, particularly one published by Leonardo di Mauro in 2001 and another, dated 1844, that was sold in 2014. It was possible to establish Senape’s working method and the advantages of employing transparent paper. Senape must have retained a series of classic Grand Tour landscape drawings from which clients could choose a specific sequence that would constitute an album reflecting an individual itinerary on the peninsula. Using transparent paper allowed the artist to work quickly and confidently and to deliver a product in a relatively short time; presumably such an album, copied from Senape’s templates, could be executed in a matter of days. Clients could thereby acquire original works of art by a renowned draftsman invested with a far greater aura than a series of comparable prints without having to wait for weeks while the commission was being completed. This singular means of using transparent paper as a commodity readied for the art market remained a unicum in the history of nineteenth-century *vedute*; however, it also served as a curious middle ground between lithographed albums and watercolor drawings and paintings by Senape’s rivals in the Posillipo School.

*Center 38*

                  - Senape, Antonio
                  - Italian , 1820 - 1849

                  - Antonio Senape
                  - Souvenir Album with Views of Naples, Southern Italy, and Sicily
                  - 1848

### Stay connected

Learn more about our exhibitions, news, programs, and special offers.

About
          - About the National Gallery
          - Stories
          - Press
          - FAQs
          - Contact Us

Plan a Visit
          - Getting Here
          - Accessibility
          - Today's Tours
          - Food & Drink
          - Calendar
          - Downloadable Map

Get Involved
          - Donate
          - Membership
          - Volunteer
          - Opportunities
          - Shop Online

Resources
          - Search the Collection
          - Conservation
          - Library
          - Archives
          - The Center
          - Film Programs
          - Music Programs
          - Audio/Video
          - Open Access Images

Hours: 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. daily

**West Building**6th St and Constitution Ave NW*Enter or exit from Constitution Avenue, 4th Street, or 7th Street. The Madison Drive entrance is currently closed.*

**East Building**4th St and Constitution Ave NW*Enter and exit from 4th Street.*

**Sculpture Garden**7th St and Constitution Ave NW*Enter and exit from 7th Street, Constitution Avenue, or Madison Drive.*

We are closed on December 25 and January 1.

*The National Gallery of Art serves the nation by welcoming all people to explore and experience art, creativity, and our shared humanity.*

          -  Twitter 
          -  Facebook 
          -  Instagram 
          -  Pinterest 
          -  YouTube 

© 2024 National Gallery of Art   Notices   Terms of Use   Privacy Policy