The Sketchbooks of a Disciple of Marco Benefial and Agostino Masucci: Apprenticeship and Invention in the Work of João Glama Ströberle (1708–92)

Abstract

The three sketchbooks by the Portuguese artist João Glama Ströberle preserved in the Getty Research Institute’s (GRI) collections offer unique material for analyzing the artistic practice of a painter from the eighteenth century. They fulfill three complementary functions: The first sketchbook, signed in 1742, represents a unique document from his stay in Rome, containing the artist’s pensamentos (thoughts, or ideas for original compositions) as well as autobiographical notes and theoretical considerations reflecting his training as an artist under his teachers Marco Benefial and Agostino Masucci. The second one more closely resembles other sketchbooks in the GRI’s collections and includes practical knowledge and drawings of views and landscapes, in which Glama also includes interesting information on paintings by Benefial. The third sketchbook is the most personal one and is reserved for spontaneous sketches related predominantly to his life in Portugal. This study focuses on Glama’s process of training and his unusual position between two caposcuole.