St John the Baptist

Perugino (Pietro di Cristoforo Vannucci) (in circa 1500)

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Specifications

Title	St John the Baptist
Material and technique	pen and ink, brush and brown ink, heightened with white
Object type	Drawing > Two-dimensional object > Art object
Location	This object is in storage

Dimensions	Height 242 mm Width 152 mm
Artists	Workshop of: Perugino (Pietro di Cristoforo Vannucci) Maker: Anoniem
Accession number	I 254 recto (PK)
Credits	Loan Stichting Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen (former Koenigs collection), 1940
Department	Drawings & Prints
Acquisition date	1940
Creation date	in circa 1500
Inscriptions	'Leonardo a Massacc[...]' (verso, centre right., pen and ink)
Collector	Collector / Franz Koenigs
Provenance	Art dealer Gustav Nebehay, Berlin/Vienna (1928); Franz W. Koenigs (1881-1941, L.1023a), Haarlem, acquired in 1928 (studio of Perugino); D.G. van Beuningen (1877-1955), Rotterdam, acquired with the Koenigs Collection in 1940 and donated to Stichting Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen
Research	Show research Italian Drawings 1400-1600
Material	Brown ink > Ink > Artist's material > Material > Material and technique Paintbrush > Artist's material > Material > Material and technique Paintbrush > Artist's material > Material > Material and technique Paper > Vegetable material > Organic material > Material > Material and technique Metalpoint > Artist's material > Material > Material and technique Silverpoint > Metalpoint > Artist's material > Material > Material and technique
Object	Drawing > Two-dimensional object > Art object
Technique	Prepare > Prepared > Shaping techniques > General technique > Technique > Material and technique Prepare > Prepared > Shaping techniques > General technique > Technique > Material and technique Highlight > Painting technique > Technique > Material and technique
Geographical origin	Italy > Southern Europe > Europe

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Entry catalogue Italian Drawings 1400-1600

Author: Rosie Razzall

In 1482 Pietro Perugino completed a fresco of the Baptism of Christ for Pope Sixtus IV (1414-1484) in the Sistine Chapel. The composition was repeated many times by Perugino and members of his workshop. This drawing, in poor condition, reproduces the figure of St John the Baptist, and the pose is especially close to the saint in a version of the subject in Vienna^[1]dated to around 1498-1500. The sheet has so far remained unpublished. Many drawings copied after Perugino’s paintings survive, and they were probably made by various members of the workshop as a way of studying the artist’s particular motifs. Other examples in Rotterdam include a musical angel,^[2]and a copy of the sleeping apostles from The Agony in the Garden.^[3]Rather endearingly, the verso of this drawing includes a pen-and-ink study of a youth asleep on a three-legged stool, as well as the hunched head and shoulders of another boy seen from behind. These studies are probably taken from life and show the artist’s fellow garzone (workshop apprentices) hard at work or exhausted by their endeavours, captured in an unguarded moment.

Footnotes

^[1]Kunsthistorisches Museum, Gemäldegalerie, inv. 139.

^[2]Inv. DN 107/4.

^[3]Inv. DN 118/5.

Show research Italian Drawings 1400-1600

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