Two Male Figures (Study for the Resurrection) 18th-19th century

Giuseppe Bernardino Bison made this pen and brown ink drawing, Two Male Figures, likely in the late eighteenth or early nineteenth century. The figures are drawn in a neoclassical style with reference to antiquity that would have been considered highly academic in its day. Bison lived in Venice during a tumultuous period of social and political change. Republic became subject to Austrian rule, then French occupation, before finally returning to Austrian control. Religious imagery such as the Resurrection served as an important means of cultural continuity through all these changes. This drawing would have been a study for a larger painting, perhaps for a church commission. The figures recall classical sculpture and Renaissance painting, while the use of brown ink creates a sense of immediacy, and energy. To better understand Bison's world, one could consult historical archives, religious records, and art historical scholarship. Only by understanding the society and institutions that gave rise to this image can we understand the public role of art.