There was an issue while attempting to download the image. Please try again later. If the problem persists, kindly contact us at gallery.collectionsonline@courtauld.ac.uk for further assistance.
You are permitted to reuse this image under a CC
BY-NC 4.0 Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International.
This license requires that users give appropriate credit. You are permitted to distribute, remix, adapt, and build upon the material in any medium or format, for non-commercial purposes only.
BY: Credit must be given to the creator.
NC:Only non-commercial use of the work is permitted.
Non-commercial means not primarily intended for or directed towards commercial advantage or monetary compensation.
Copyright status:'No Known Copyright Restrictions'
Can I share this work? Yes
Can I remix this work? Yes
Do I need to credit The Courtauld? Yes
Please follow this format to credit the work:
Creator, title, date, The Courtauld, London (Samuel Courtauld Trust)
[unless otherwise specified in the object record].
Image courtesy The Courtauld.
Can I use this work commercially? No, unless it is used in an academic project or publication with a print run of less than 3000 copies.
PLEASE SHARE WITH US HOW YOU PLAN TO USE THIS IMAGE
Please select an option:
LICENSING A HIGH-RESOLUTION IMAGE
For information about obtaining a license and a higher-resolution image for use not listed above please visit The Courtauld Copyright Policy
Study of a flying angel (recto)
Maker
(recto)
(artist)
c.1454-1513 (Life dates)
(verso) Workshop of
(artist)
c.1454-1513 (Life dates)
Formerly attributed to
Giovanni Santi (artist)
1430-1494
(artist)
c.1454-1513 (Life dates)
(verso) Workshop of
(artist)
c.1454-1513 (Life dates)
Formerly attributed to
Giovanni Santi (artist)
1430-1494
Title
Study of a flying angel (recto)
Date of Production
(circa) 1481 - 1485
Medium
metalpoint and white bodycolour on grey-prepared laid paper (recto and verso)
Dimensions
Height: 21.8 cm
Width: 13.9 cm
Width: 13.9 cm
Accession Number
D.1978.PG.81
Mode of Acquisition
Count Antoine Seilern, bequest, 1978
Credit
The Courtauld, London (Samuel Courtauld Trust)
Copyright
Work in the public domain
Location
Not currently on display
Keywords
Label Text
Recto:
Pinturicchio’s Flying Angel derives from the Assumption of the Virgin which his teacher, Perugino, painted in the Sistine Chapel (it was later replaced by Michelangelo’s Last Judgment). Pinturicchio may have worked on that commission. However, this drawing is not a preparatory sketch for the project but a record of Perugino’s figure. The sheet’s exceptional finesse and delicate details celebrate the skill of its maker, Pinturicchio, as well as the original invention.
Verso:
In the fifteenth century, painters learned their trade by imitating the work of earlier masters. This figure is copied from another painting by Perugino in the Sistine Chapel: the Baptism of Christ. The technique and materials are almost identical to those of the Flying Angel on the other side of this sheet. However the draughtsman has not fully understood his source. Certain elements of the drawing, such as the man’s right sleeve and shoulder, are unresolved.
Pinturicchio’s Flying Angel derives from the Assumption of the Virgin which his teacher, Perugino, painted in the Sistine Chapel (it was later replaced by Michelangelo’s Last Judgment). Pinturicchio may have worked on that commission. However, this drawing is not a preparatory sketch for the project but a record of Perugino’s figure. The sheet’s exceptional finesse and delicate details celebrate the skill of its maker, Pinturicchio, as well as the original invention.
Verso:
In the fifteenth century, painters learned their trade by imitating the work of earlier masters. This figure is copied from another painting by Perugino in the Sistine Chapel: the Baptism of Christ. The technique and materials are almost identical to those of the Flying Angel on the other side of this sheet. However the draughtsman has not fully understood his source. Certain elements of the drawing, such as the man’s right sleeve and shoulder, are unresolved.
Notes
The verso figure is a study after a figure in Byzantine dress seen from behind in Perugino's 'Baptism of Christ' (1481-82) in the Sistine Chapel. The recto angel is a type regularly found in the production of Perugino and his associates, and probably derives from Perugino's 'Assumption of the Virgin' for the altar wall of the Sistine Chapel, destroyed in 1535-36 when Michelangelo painted his Last Judgment. Nonetheless, the drawing is firmly attributed to Pinturicchio.
Provenance
Sir Thomas Lawrence (1769-1830), L.2445 (verso); William Mayor, London (1826-1874), L.2799 (lower right); John Postle Heseltine, London (1843-1929), L.1507 (verso, lower right); purchased from him by Colnaghi & Obach (London), October 1912 (according to Lugt, L.1507 was the mark appended by Colnaghi to the 600+ sheets acquired from Heseltine at this time); Henry Oppenheimer (1859-1932); his estate sale, Christie's (London), 10 and 13 - 14 July 1936, lot 169 (repr., as by Santi); purchased there by Thomas Agnew & Sons (London), for £400; Colnaghi (London); purchased there by Count Antoine Seilern, London (1901-1978), 11 June 1953 (£800, as by Santi); Princes Gate Bequest, 1978
Exhibition History
Mantegna to Matisse - Master Drawings from The Courtauld Gallery, The Frick Collection, New York, 02/10/2012-27/01/2013
Mantegna to Matisse - Master Drawings from The Courtauld Gallery, The Courtauld Gallery, London, 14/06/2012-09/09/2012
Pinturicchio, Galleria Nationale dell'Umbria, Umbria, Italy, 02/02/2008-29/06/2008 ...More
A Passion for Drawings, Collectors at the Courtauld, The Courtauld Gallery, London, 28/02/2002-09/06/2002
Mantegna to Cezanne - Master Drawings from the Courtauld, British Museum, London, 24/02/1983-19/06/1983
The Princes Gate Collection - Drawings (Selection B), The Courtauld Gallery, London, 29/01/1982-25/07/1982 ...Less
Mantegna to Matisse - Master Drawings from The Courtauld Gallery, The Courtauld Gallery, London, 14/06/2012-09/09/2012
Pinturicchio, Galleria Nationale dell'Umbria, Umbria, Italy, 02/02/2008-29/06/2008 ...More
A Passion for Drawings, Collectors at the Courtauld, The Courtauld Gallery, London, 28/02/2002-09/06/2002
Mantegna to Cezanne - Master Drawings from the Courtauld, British Museum, London, 24/02/1983-19/06/1983
The Princes Gate Collection - Drawings (Selection B), The Courtauld Gallery, London, 29/01/1982-25/07/1982 ...Less
Literature
Mantegna to Matisse - Master Drawings from The Courtauld Gallery, Frick Collection, New York and Courtauld Gallery, London London 2012-2013
cat. no. 3
ills. on p . 44 (verso), p. 45 (recto), p. 47 (detail of recto)
as Pinturiccio, c. 1481-85
la Malfa, Claudia, Pintoricchio a Roma. La seduzione dell'anitco, Cinisello Balsamo 2009
p. 60
fig. 36 (verso), fig. 37 (recto)
Pinturicchio, Galleria Nationale dell'Umbria, Umbria, Italy, 2008
cat. no. 3
no. 3 on pp. 367-68 and on pp. 352-55
ill. on p. 367 (recto and verso)
entry author: Claudia la Malfa ...More
A Passion, 2002
as Pinturicchio; added to PRA task list to look up full bibliographic info
Mantegna to Cezanne: Master Drawings from the Courtauld, British Museum, London, 1983
cat. no. 7
ill. on p. 15 (recto only)
as Pinturicchio?
The Princes Gate Collection - Drawings (Selection B), The Courtauld Gallery, London, 1982
cat. no. 176
ill. on p. 125 (recto only)
as Pinturicchio?
Carli, Enzo, Il Pintoricchio, Siena 1960
p. 77 (verso)
Seilern, Count Antoine, Italian paintings and drawings at 56 Princes Gate, London, SW7, London 1959; II
no. 81
pl. XXXV (recto and verso)
as Studio of Perugino, possibly by Pinturicchio, dated 1482-85
Fischel, Oskar, Die Zeichnungen der Umbrer, Berlin 1917
vol. II, p. 188n209 or p. 260, no. 209
ill.
as by Giovanni Santi; different pp given by Seilern 1959 and Perugia 2008
Crowe, J.A. and G.B. Cavalcaselle, History of painting in Italy: Umbria, Florence & Siena, from the second to the sixteenth century, vol. V, London 1914
pp. 405-06n6
as Pinturicchio
Original drawings by old masters of the Italian school, forming part of the collection of J.P.H., London (privately printed) 1913
nos. 30-31
ill.
as Pinturicchio
Ricci, Corrado, Baroque architecture and sculpture in Italy, London and New York 1912
p. 264n1
Mayor, William, A brief Chronological Description of a collection of Original Drawings and Sketches by the most celebrated Masters, London 1871
no. 18
as Pinturicchio
Juste de Gand, Berruguete et la cour d'Urbino, Musée des beaux-arts, Gand, 12 October - 15 December 1857, 1857
p. 73 under no. 27
Thieme Becker, Kunstler Lexikon
vol. XXVII (1933), p. 65
as Pinturicchio ...Less
cat. no. 3
ills. on p . 44 (verso), p. 45 (recto), p. 47 (detail of recto)
as Pinturiccio, c. 1481-85
la Malfa, Claudia, Pintoricchio a Roma. La seduzione dell'anitco, Cinisello Balsamo 2009
p. 60
fig. 36 (verso), fig. 37 (recto)
Pinturicchio, Galleria Nationale dell'Umbria, Umbria, Italy, 2008
cat. no. 3
no. 3 on pp. 367-68 and on pp. 352-55
ill. on p. 367 (recto and verso)
entry author: Claudia la Malfa ...More
A Passion, 2002
as Pinturicchio; added to PRA task list to look up full bibliographic info
Mantegna to Cezanne: Master Drawings from the Courtauld, British Museum, London, 1983
cat. no. 7
ill. on p. 15 (recto only)
as Pinturicchio?
The Princes Gate Collection - Drawings (Selection B), The Courtauld Gallery, London, 1982
cat. no. 176
ill. on p. 125 (recto only)
as Pinturicchio?
Carli, Enzo, Il Pintoricchio, Siena 1960
p. 77 (verso)
Seilern, Count Antoine, Italian paintings and drawings at 56 Princes Gate, London, SW7, London 1959; II
no. 81
pl. XXXV (recto and verso)
as Studio of Perugino, possibly by Pinturicchio, dated 1482-85
Fischel, Oskar, Die Zeichnungen der Umbrer, Berlin 1917
vol. II, p. 188n209 or p. 260, no. 209
ill.
as by Giovanni Santi; different pp given by Seilern 1959 and Perugia 2008
Crowe, J.A. and G.B. Cavalcaselle, History of painting in Italy: Umbria, Florence & Siena, from the second to the sixteenth century, vol. V, London 1914
pp. 405-06n6
as Pinturicchio
Original drawings by old masters of the Italian school, forming part of the collection of J.P.H., London (privately printed) 1913
nos. 30-31
ill.
as Pinturicchio
Ricci, Corrado, Baroque architecture and sculpture in Italy, London and New York 1912
p. 264n1
Mayor, William, A brief Chronological Description of a collection of Original Drawings and Sketches by the most celebrated Masters, London 1871
no. 18
as Pinturicchio
Juste de Gand, Berruguete et la cour d'Urbino, Musée des beaux-arts, Gand, 12 October - 15 December 1857, 1857
p. 73 under no. 27
Thieme Becker, Kunstler Lexikon
vol. XXVII (1933), p. 65
as Pinturicchio ...Less
Inscriptions
Watermark: Watermark: possibly at lower centre edge, but unable to see clealry due to paper preparation, even with VSC 8000.
Inscription: none.
Collector's mark: Recto: lower right corner, stamped in black: William Mayor (L.2799). Verso: lower left, blindstamped: Sir Thomas Lawrence (L.2445); lower right, stamped in black: John Postle Heseltine (L.1507).
Inscription: none.
Collector's mark: Recto: lower right corner, stamped in black: William Mayor (L.2799). Verso: lower left, blindstamped: Sir Thomas Lawrence (L.2445); lower right, stamped in black: John Postle Heseltine (L.1507).
Information on this object may be incomplete and will be updated as research progresses. We are particularly committed to addressing any discriminatory or offensive language and ideas that might be present in our records. To help improve this record, and to enquire about images of The Courtauld Gallery Collection, please email gallery.collectionsonline@courtauld.ac.uk. Find out more about using and licensing our images.
____________________________
