This drawing of a graceful figure in diaphanous, billowing drapery relates to a fresco in the Sala Paolina, the papal reception hall in Castel Sant’Angelo decorated by Perino and his workshop between 1543 and 1548. It is a study for Prudence, one of the female personifications of the Virtues who appear in niches between the monumental renderings of scenes from the life of Alexander the Great . Like the study for Alexander Cutting the Gordian Knot in the Museum's collection (1984.413), the drawing would have been used as a model by Perino’s assistants, who were charged with carrying out his ideas.
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Artwork Details
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Title:Study for Allegorical Figure of Prudence
Artist:Perino del Vaga (Pietro Buonaccorsi) (Italian, Florence 1501–1547 Rome)
Date:1501–47
Medium:Pen and brown ink, brush and gray wash, over traces of black chalk
Dimensions:10 1/16 x 5 9/16in. (25.6 x 14.1cm)
Classification:Drawings
Credit Line:Rogers Fund, 1964
Accession Number:64.179
Inscription: Annotated in pen and brown ink, possibly by the artis, at lower right, "P.D.V." (Perino del Vaga). Written on verso of mat in graphite: "1664 Isaacs/15 1/1"
Marking: Collector's mark of Modesto Ignazio Genevosio (Lugt 545) and sticker on verso of mat (E 4220).
Modesto Ignazio Bonaventura Luigi Genevosio (Italian); Professor J[acob]. Isaacs (British); his sale, Sotheby's, London, February 27, 1964, lot 15
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Italian Renaissance Drawings from New York Collections," November 9, 1965–January 9, 1966.
Morgan Library & Museum, New York. "Drawings by Raphael and His Circle from British and North American Collections," January 1, 1987–December 31, 1988.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Genoa: Drawings and Prints, 1530–1800," April 23–July 10, 1996.
Palazzo Te, Mantua. "Perino del Vaga: tra Raffaello e Michelangelo," March 17, 2001–June 10, 2001.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Perino del Vaga in New York Collections," September 27, 2011–February 5, 2012.
Jacob Bean, Felice Stampfle Drawings from New York Collections, Vol. I: The Italian Renaissance. Exh. cat. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 1965, p. 57, no. 87, ill.
Michael Hirst "Tibaldi around Perino" The Burlington Magazine. Vol. 107, No. 752 (Nov., 1965), 1965, p. 569.
Walter Vitzthum "Current and Forthcoming Exhibitions: Drawings from New York Collections." The Burlington Magazine. 108, (Feb. 1966),. London, 1966, p. 110.
Eraldo Gaudioso "I lavori farnesiani a Castel Sant'Angelo: precisazioni e ipotesi" Bollettino d'arte. vol. 61, nos. 1-2, 1976, p. 32.
Richard Harprath Papst Paul III. als Alexander der Grosse. Das Freskenprogramm der Sala Paolina in der Engelsburg. New York, Berlin, 1978, p. 73, pl. 72.
Eraldo Gaudioso, Filippa M. Aliberti Gli affreschi di Paolo III a Castel Sant'Angelo. Progetto ed esecuzione. 1543-1548. Catalogo: II. I disegni Exh. cat. Museo Nazionale di Castel Sant'Angelo, Rome. Rome, 1981, p. 135, no. 81 (reproduced but not exhibited).
Jacob Bean, Lawrence Turčić 15th and 16th Century Italian Drawings in the Metropolitan Museum of Art. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 1982, cat. no. 168, fig. no. 168, pp. 174-75, ill.
Fifteenth and Sixteenth Century Italian Drawings in the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Exh. cat.: February 16 - April 17. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 1983, ill.
Elena Parma Armani Perin del Vaga: L'Anello mancante. Studi sul Manierismo. Genoa, 1986, p. 218, fig. 261.
John Gere Drawings by Raphael and his Circle, from British and North American Collections. Exh. cat. Pierpont Morgan Library, New York. Morgan Library & Museum, New York, 1987, no. 78, ill.
Vittoria Romani Tibaldi "d'intorno" a Perino. Padua, 1990, pp. 13, 25 (mistakenly as allegory of Faith).
Carmen C. Bambach, Nadine Orenstein, William M. Griswold, Allegra Pesenti Genoa: Drawings and Prints, 1530-1800 Exh. cat. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 1996, p. 94, no. 112.
Elena Parma Perino del Vaga: tra Raffaello e Michelangelo. Exh. cat., Mantua, Palazzo Te (March 18 - June 10, 2001). Milan, 2001, p. 322, no. 185 (entry by Linda Wolk-Simon).
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