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Articles

No. 16 (2025): Collecting Art

Annotazioni sulla collezione di disegni del pittore genovese Giulio Benso

DOI
https://doi.org/10.37935/iha.oan2025.002
Submitted
13 June 2025
Published
28-12-2025

Abstract

This article explores the significant drawings collection of Giulio Benso (1592-1668), a Genoese painter whose training was influenced by prominent collectors like Giovanni Battista Paggi and Giovan Carlo Doria. Unlike many of his contemporaries, Benso left an exceptionally detailed testamentary inventory from 1660, offering a rare insight into his extensive graphic art collection. Analysis of the inventory, compiled by the artist himself, reveals the breadth and quality of the drawings, specifying medium, support, and subject. The collection included both Benso's own works and pieces by renowned Genoese artists such as Luca Cambiaso and Sinibaldo Scorza, alongside masterpieces by external masters like Perino del Vaga and Annibale Carracci. This unique documentation allows for a thorough reconstruction of the tastes and influences of a 17th-century Genoese artist-collector.

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