{
"data": {
"id": 144302,
"accession_number": "1969.131",
"share_license_status": "CC0",
"tombstone": "Sketch for \"The Four Prophets of Israel\" (for Il Ges\u00f9, Rome), c. 1675\u20131677. Giovanni Battista Gaulli (Italian, 1639\u20131709). Oil on canvas; framed: 81.3 x 68 x 9 cm (32 x 26 3/4 x 3 9/16 in.); unframed: 67.3 x 55 cm (26 1/2 x 21 5/8 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, John L. Severance Fund, 1969.131",
"current_location": null,
"title": "Sketch for \"The Four Prophets of Israel\" (for Il Ges\u00f9, Rome)",
"creation_date": "c. 1675\u20131677",
"creation_date_earliest": 1670,
"creation_date_latest": 1682,
"artists_tags": [
"male"
],
"culture": [
"Italy"
],
"technique": "oil on canvas",
"support_materials": [],
"department": "European Painting and Sculpture",
"collection": "P - Italian 16th & 17th Century",
"type": "Painting",
"measurements": "Framed: 81.3 x 68 x 9 cm (32 x 26 3/4 x 3 9/16 in.); Unframed: 67.3 x 55 cm (26 1/2 x 21 5/8 in.)",
"dimensions": {
"framed": {
"height": 0.813,
"height_inch": 32,
"height_inch_fraction": 0.0,
"width": 0.68,
"width_inch": 26,
"width_inch_fraction": 0.75,
"depth": 0.09,
"depth_inch": 3,
"depth_inch_fraction": 0.5625
},
"unframed": {
"height": 0.673,
"height_inch": 26,
"height_inch_fraction": 0.5,
"width": 0.55,
"width_inch": 21,
"width_inch_fraction": 0.625
}
},
"state_of_the_work": null,
"edition_of_the_work": null,
"copyright": null,
"inscriptions": [],
"exhibitions": {
"current": [
{
"id": 301313,
"title": "Year in Review: 1969",
"description": "Year in Review: 1969. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (January 27-February 22, 1970).",
"opening_date": "1970-01-27T05:00:00"
},
{
"id": 304414,
"title": "Idea to Image: Preparatory Studies from the Renaissance to Impressionism",
"description": "Idea to Image: Preparatory Studies from the Renaissance to Impressionism. The Cleveland Museum of Art (organizer) (February 19-March 23, 1980).",
"opening_date": "1980-02-19T05:00:00"
},
{
"id": 297072,
"title": "The Holy Name: Art of the Ges\u00f9: Bernini and his Age",
"description": "The Holy Name: Art of the Ges\u00f9: Bernini and his Age. Fairfield University Art Museum, Fairfield, CT (organizer) (February 1-May 20, 2018).",
"opening_date": "2018-02-02T05:00:00"
}
],
"legacy": [
{
"description": "The Holy Name: Art of the Gesu: Bernini and his Age. Fairfield University Art Museum, Fairfield, CT (February 2-May 19, 2018).",
"opening_date": "2018-02-02T00:00:00"
}
]
},
"provenance": [],
"find_spot": null,
"related_works": [],
"former_accession_numbers": [],
"did_you_know": null,
"early_education_description": null,
"artlens_description": null,
"description": "This small painting represents the four prophets of Israel: Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and Daniel. It is one of seven oil sketches made in preparation for the decoration of the four pendentives in the Jesuit Church of the Ges\u00f9 in Rome. The artist, one of the most prominent large-scale decorative painters in Rome, is known for his grand painting of the vault of the Ges\u00f9. Giovanni Batista Gaulli followed the Italian decorative tradition by preparing this sketch, called a bozzetto, to work out his ideas before the final fresco was painted. Fresco painting was the most desirable media for public and private locations, created by mixing dry pigment into wet plaster. They are an ideal permanent decoration; however, the process is tedious and thorough preparation is essential to ensure high quality. Oil sketches would aid the artist in creating a final composition and choosing their palette and would be particularly helpful for awkward spaces such as the pendentive, an inverted triangle. In this scene, Gaulli changed his initial composition for the final fresco, balancing the four prophets and young putti with the young Daniel as the most prominent figure motioning toward the dome.",
"external_resources": {
"wikidata": [
"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q60470350"
],
"internet_archive": [
"https://archive.org/details/clevelandart-1969.131-sketch-for-the-four"
]
},
"citations": [
{
"citation": "Reuschel, Wilhelm. Die Sammlung Wilhelm Reuschel; ein Beitrag zur Geschichte der Barockmalerei. Mu\u0308nchen, Germany: Bruckmann, 1963.",
"page_number": "Mentioned: p. 42-44; Reproduced: p. 43",
"url": null
},
{
"citation": "Enggass, Robert. The Painting of Baciccio: Giovanni Battista Gaulli, 1639-1709. University Park, PA: Pennsylvania State University Press, 1964.",
"page_number": "Reproduced: p. 160",
"url": null
},
{
"citation": "Held, Julius S. Paintings of the European and American Schools. Ponce, Puerto Rico: Museo de Arte, 1965.",
"page_number": "Reproduced: p. 71",
"url": null
},
{
"citation": "The Cleveland Museum of Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art Catalogue of Paintings, Part 3: European Paintings of the 16th, 17th, and 18th Centuries. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1982.",
"page_number": "Reproduced: p. 344; Mentioned: p. 345",
"url": null
},
{
"citation": "Lee, Sherman E. \"The Year in Review for 1969.\" The Bulletin of The Cleveland Museum of Art LVII, no. 1 (January, 1970):3-50.",
"page_number": "Reproduced: p. 17, no. 144; Mentioned: p. 48",
"url": null
},
{
"citation": "Lurie, Ann Tzeutschler. \"A Bozzetto for the Four Prophets by Gaullli.\" The Bulletin of The Cleveland Museum of Art LVIII, no.4 (April, 1971):98-106.",
"page_number": "Reproduced: cover, p. 99, fig 2 and 10",
"url": null
},
{
"citation": "Lurie, Ann T. \"A Short Note on Baciccio's Pendentives in the Ges\u00f9 \u00e0 Propos a New Bozzetto in Cleveland.\" The Burlington Magazine114, no. 828 (1972): 170-173.",
"page_number": "Mentioned: P. 170-173",
"url": "http://www.jstor.org/stable/876909"
},
{
"citation": "Five College Roman Baroque Festival, Easter Weekend, April 11-14, 1974. United States: publisher not identified, 1974.",
"page_number": "Reproduced: p. 6, no. 9",
"url": null
},
{
"citation": "Johnson, Mark M. Idea to Image: Preparatory Studies from the Renaissance to Impressionism. Cleveland, OH: Cleveland Museum of Art, 1980.",
"page_number": "Reproduced: no. 83",
"url": null
},
{
"citation": "Ferrari, Oreste. Bozzetti italiani dal manierismo al barocco. Napoli, Italy: Electa, 1990.",
"page_number": "Mentioned: p. 137; Reproduced: p. 140",
"url": null
},
{
"citation": "Johns, Christopher M. S. \"Upon the Roof of Heaven: Goivanni Battista Gaulli's Dome, Pendentive and Vault Frescoes at the Gesu\u0300.\" In The Holy Name: Art of the Gesu\u0300: Bernini and His Age. Linda Wolk-Simon, ed. Philadelphia: Saint Joseph\u2019s University Press, 2018.",
"page_number": "Mentioned: p. 278; Reproduced: p. 307, fig. 18 & p. 498, cat. 40",
"url": null
}
],
"url": "https://clevelandart.org/art/1969.131",
"images": {
"annotation": null,
"web": {
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"width": "729",
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"filesize": "442834",
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"print": {
"url": "https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1969.131/1969.131_print.jpg",
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},
"alternate_images": [],
"creditline": "John L. Severance Fund",
"image_credit": null,
"sketchfab_id": null,
"sketchfab_url": null,
"gallery_donor_text": null,
"athena_id": 144302,
"creators": [
{
"id": 2172,
"description": "Giovanni Battista Gaulli (Italian, 1639\u20131709)",
"extent": null,
"qualifier": null,
"role": "artist",
"biography": null,
"name_in_original_language": null,
"birth_year": "1639",
"death_year": "1709",
"use_in_caption": true,
"include_extent": false,
"weight": 1
}
],
"legal_status": "accessioned",
"accession_date": "1969-07-12T00:00:00",
"sortable_date": 1670,
"date_added_to_oa": null,
"date_text": "c. 1675\u20131677",
"collapse_artists": false,
"on_loan": false,
"recently_acquired": false,
"record_type": "object",
"conservation_statement": null,
"has_conservation_images": false,
"cover_accession_number": null,
"is_nazi_era_provenance": false,
"impression": null,
"alternate_titles": [
"The Four Prophets of Israel"
],
"is_highlight": false,
"updated_at": "2026-09-09 19:14:19.517000"
}
}