Perino del Vaga
Italian, 1501–1547
Study of a Nude Seen from the Back, and Two Studies of an Arm (recto); Nude Seen from the Back, with Subsidiary Studies of a Shoulder and Leg (verso)
INV-2021
Perino del Vaga
Italian, 1501–1547c. 1528
Study of a Nude Seen from the Back, and Two Studies of an Arm (recto); Nude Seen from the Back, with Subsidiary Studies of a Shoulder and Leg (verso)
Perino del Vaga Italian, 1501–1547 →pen and ink drawingspaper
Date
c. 1528
Medium
Pen and iron gall ink (recto) and pen and iron gall ink, with touches of red chalk (verso) on cream laid paper
Dimensions
28.1 × 19.3 cm (11 1/8 × 7 5/8 in.)
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Location
Chicago, IL
Credit
Gift of Richard and Mary L. Gray
The two sides of this balanced sheet of anatomical drawings reflect the probing mind and line of an artist who trained in the workshop of Raphael, one of the finest draftsmen of the Italian Renaissance. His talented pupil Perino del Vaga explores the front and back of a nude male figure, using two very different graphic methods.
On one side, his line is enhanced with hatching that gives his studies sculptural form. On the other side, he restricts himself to pure line in what becomes a kind of calligraphy of the pen. We even see him testing that pen in a series of rapid squiggles to the left of the figure.
Also notable
Works in the same vein
Apollo Driving the Chariot of the Sun
Workshop of Pietro Buonaccorsi, called Perino del Vaga Italian, 1501-1547
Archers Shooting at a Herm, Triumph of Bacchus, and Other Studies
after Michelangelo Buonarroti (Italian, 1475-1564) and Pietro Buonaccorsi, called Perino del Vaga (Italian, 1501-1547)
Studies of Warriors, Horsemen, and Lions (recto); Studies of Heads and Nude Figures, Ceiling Plan, and Inscriptions (verso)
Pietro Buonaccorsi, called Perino del Vaga Italian, 1501-1547
