This view of a wooded slope on the bank of a river is an exceptionally rare example of a fifteenth-century landscape study. Perugino eschews linear penwork in favor of wash and white gouache, using the brush to draw forms that seem to dissolve into atmosphere and light. The eloquent passages of blank space call attention to the broad, watery brushstrokes with which the artist prepared the paper with a gray-green wash. The subtle texture of the preparation, together with the thin applications of brown wash in the design layer, gives the scene a vaporous softness. One of the most sought-after artists of his day, Perugino frequently included serene landscapes inspired by the Tuscan and Umbrian countrysides in the backgrounds of his paintings. A composition closely related to this one appears in the distance in his Vision of Saint Bernard (Alte Pinakothek, Munich).
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Artwork Details
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Title:Landscape (recto); Landscape (verso)
Artist:Perugino (Pietro di Cristoforo Vannucci) (Italian, Città della Pieve, active by 1469–died 1523 Fontignano)
Date:1489–90
Medium:Brush and brown wash, highlighted with white gouache, on gray-green prepared paper (recto); pen and brown ink on unprepared off-white paper (verso)
Inscription: Annotated in pen and brown ink, at lower right corner, "CL", possibly referring to Claude Lorrain.
Herbert List (German); Wolfgang Ratjen, Munich and Vaduz (German); Christie's, Londonsale, 12/15/1992, lot 47; Gabrielle Kopelman (American)
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Drawings and Prints: Selections from the Permanent Collection," February 8–May 3, 1999.
Galleria Nazionale dell'Umbria, Perugia. "Perugino: Il divin pittore," May 10, 2004–July 18, 2004.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Raphael at the Metropolitan: The Colonna Altarpiece," June 20–September 4, 2006.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "The Philippe de Montebello Years: Curators Celebrate Three Decades of Acquisitions," October 24, 2008–February 1, 2009.
Alte Pinakothek, Munich. "Perugino: Raffaels Meister," October 15, 2011–January 15, 2012.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Paper Chase: Two Decades of Collecting Drawings and Prints," December 9, 2014–March 16, 2015.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Innocence and Experience: Selections from the Department of Drawings and Prints," February 9, 2023–May 16, 2023.
George R. Goldner "New Drawings by Perugino and Pontormo." Burlington Magazine. vol. 136, 1994, pp. 365-366, figs. 28-30.
George R. Goldner "Curatorial Reports and Departmental Accessions: Drawings" in Annual Report of the Trustees of the Metropolitan Museum, July 1, 1993 - June 30, 1994. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 1994, p. 27.
William M. Griswold, Helen Bobritzky Mules, Suzanne Boorsch, Nadine Orenstein "Recent Acquisitions, A Selection: 1993-1994: Renaissance and Baroque Europe - Europe 1700-1900." The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, vol. 52, no. 2, Autumn 1994, p. 21 (entry by William Griswold).
Joseph Antenucci Becherer Pietro Perugino Master of the Italian Renaissance. Exh. cat. Grand Rapids, Michigan, 1997, pp. 69, 79 (text by Rosaria Mencarelli), 192, 193, 206 (entry by Joseph Antenucci Becherer).
Silvia Blasio Il paesaggio nella pittura di Pietro Perugino in Perugino e il paesaggio. Exh. cat. Città della Pieve (Perugia), Palazzo della Corgna. Ed. by Silvia Blasio et al., Cinisello Balsamo (Milan), 2004, pp. 31, 33-34, 41, figs. 16-17.
Vittoria Garibaldi, Francesco Federico Mancini Perugino: il divin pittore. Exh. cat., Galleria nazionale dell'Umbria, Perugia. Milan, 2004, p. 375, no. II.25 (entry by Lisa Venturini).
Linda Wolk-Simon "Raphael at the Metropolitan: The Colonna Altarpiece." Exh. cat. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2006, pp. 71-72, no. 25.
Perugino: Raffaels Meister. Exh cat., Bayerische Staatsgemäldesammlungen, Alte Pinakothek, Munich. Edited by Andreas Schumacher, Munich, 2011, pp. 208-9, no. 6 (entry by Annette Hojer).
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