Two Studies of Costume

Another pair of costume studies from Carlevarijs's extensive series drawn around 1700-1710, documenting two distinct outfit types in the early eighteenth-century Venetian world. These drawings reveal the working method behind Carlevarijs's vedute — the large-scale views of the Grand Canal, the Piazzetta, and Venetian ceremonies that were his principal paintings. Rather than inventing figures from imagination, Carlevarijs built up a documentary archive from observation, drawing the people of Venice in their everyday and festive dress. His successor Canaletto would employ a similar systematic approach, but Carlevarijs's figure studies represent the earliest sustained documentary effort to record Venetian street life in this period.

The two costumes are rendered with attention to their contrasting silhouettes and color values. Quick, descriptive brushwork captures the essential character of each outfit, with enough detail for recognition but maintained looseness for compositional flexibility.