Paolo Farinati worked in Mantua and Venice, but primarily in his native town of Verona. It is in the latter that he was commissioned, alongside fellow Veronese artist Giovanni Caroto (1488–c.1563), to paint in fresco the façade of Palazzo Marogna in Verona. Between 1550 and 1555, he contributed to the upper part of the façade, where he added an elaborate frieze of female figures representing the cardinal virtues as described in Dante’s Purgatory. The recto of this drawing is a preparatory study for the figure of Dialectics, placed next to Rhetoric on the far-left side of the frieze. On the façade, Farinati replicates the figure on a larger scale, exactly as she appears on this sheet. She is depicted looking to the left and away from the snake, implying the moral choice between right and wrong. The inscription next to her head on the drawing, “DIALETICA / palida infaza,” records her identity. ‘Palida infaza’ can be interpreted as ‘pallida infanzia’ or ‘faded innocence,’ a concept linked to the 16^th century perception of dialectics as a tool for exploring the human experience and developing a more nuanced worldview. On the verso are two preparatory studies. The figures on the left side of the sheet relate to Farinati’s painting The Baptism of Christ, commissioned in 1568 for the Baptistry of the Church San Giovanni in Fonte, Verona, where it remains today. A related sheet is in the Albertina, Vienna (inv. 1591). Since the recto is associated with the Palazzo Marogna fresco cycle painted in the early 1550s and the verso to a painting of 1568, this indicates that Farinati must have kept this sheet in his workshop for a long time, returning to it after a few years and using the blank side of the sheet for a different composition. Note by Alexis Nanavaty, October 11, 2024

Peter Lely, London (1618-1680); Colnaghi (London); given from there to Sir Robert Witt, London (1872-1952), n.d.; Witt Bequest 1952

Inscription: DiALECTiCA. / palida infaza. //

Inscription: P. Farinato

Collector's mark: collector's mark of Peter Lely (L.2092)

Inscription: A

Inscription: +

Inscription: A 16510

Inscription: J[...]y CL6