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A Seated Saint Reading from a Book

Former Attribution Alesso Baldovinetti Italian
late 15th century
Not on view
The outlines of the figure of this majestic seated saint have been finely pricked with holes, which would have been dusted with charcoal in order to transfer the design to another surface below – a process known as pouncing. The meticulous and closely spaced holes suggest that the sheet served as a cartoon (full-scale design) for an embroidery. The scale, pose, and figural type recall the series of seated saints found in the embroidered bands of fifteenth-century altar coverings. Florentine artists such as Antonio Pollaiuolo and Raffaelino del Garbo are thought to have provided designs for such textiles. The sheet has strong stylistic connections with the monumental painted works of Alesso Baldovinetti, who also prepared designs for intarsia (wood inlay), mosaic, and stained glass.

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: A Seated Saint Reading from a Book
  • Artist: Attributed to Francesco Botticini (Francesco di Giovanni) (Italian, Florentine, ca. 1446–1497)
  • Former Attribution: Alesso Baldovinetti (Italian, Florence 1425–1499 Florence)
  • Date: late 15th century
  • Medium: Brush and brown ink, brown wash, heightened with white (partly oxidized); horizontal lines in black chalk (?); pricked for transfer; outlines reinforced in brown ink, perhaps in the 15th or early 16th century.
  • Dimensions: 10 1/4 x 6 3/8 in. (26.1 x 16.2 cm)
  • Classification: Drawings
  • Credit Line: Robert Lehman Collection, 1975
  • Object Number: 1975.1.409
  • Curatorial Department: The Robert Lehman Collection

More Artwork

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Madonna and Child Enthroned with Saints and Angels, Francesco Botticini (Francesco di Giovanni) Italian, Tempera on wood
Madonna and Child Enthroned with Saints and Angels
Francesco Botticini (Francesco di Giovanni)
1493–95
Saint Sebastian, Francesco Botticini (Francesco di Giovanni) Italian, Tempera and oil on wood
Saint Sebastian
Francesco Botticini (Francesco di Giovanni)
The Martyrdom of Saint Paul, Taddeo Zuccaro Italian, Pen and brown and gray ink, brown wash, over black chalk, heightened with white, on buff paper.
The Martyrdom of Saint Paul
Taddeo Zuccaro
ca. 1557–58
Study for the Equestrian Monument to Francesco Sforza, Antonio Pollaiuolo Italian, Pen and brown ink, light and dark brown wash; outlines of the horse and rider pricked for transfer.
Study for the Equestrian Monument to Francesco Sforza
Antonio Pollaiuolo
early to mid 1480s
Approach to a Mountain Village with Horsemen on the Road, Fra Bartolomeo (Bartolomeo di Paolo del Fattorino) Italian, Pen and brown ink, traces of black chalk; mounted on an album page
Approach to a Mountain Village with Horsemen on the Road
Fra Bartolomeo (Bartolomeo di Paolo del Fattorino)
ca. 1501

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