Lot 3
  • 3

School of Pietro Perugino

Estimate
4,000 - 6,000 GBP
bidding is closed

Description

  • Pietro Perugino
  • two standing male figures
  • Point of the brush and brown wash with traces of black chalk, heightened with white (oxidised) on paper prepared pink;
    bears old attribution in brown ink, lower right of mount: P. Perugino and initials on reverse of mount: BB

Provenance

Nathaniel Hone (L.2793)

Condition

Unframed. Laid down on old mount. In poor condition. The lower part of the drawing has been made up and there are small losses to the right of the right-hand figure's upper arm, in between the figures' heads in the centre of the sheet. The surface is rubbed with losses to the pigment and the sheet appears to have been damaged by water.
"In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective, qualified opinion. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

Catalogue Note

The figures in the present sheet are taken from the far left of the predella panel depicting The Baptism of Christ by Perugino and assistants in the Musée des Beaux Arts, Rouen.  The panel was part of the monumental San Pietro Polyptych, commissioned in 1495 and completed five years later for the abbey church of the same name in Perugia.  The altarpiece was dismantled and dispersed in the late eighteenth century, but three of the eleven predella panels are preserved in Rouen.1  

Although this sheet does not possess the quality one would expect of Perugino, it must surely be contemporary to the polyptych and copied by a member of Perugino's workshop either from the predella or one of the master's preparatory drawings.  A compositional drawing by Perugino for the scene, including these figure in a slightly different position, is in the National Gallery of Art, Washington.2

1. See C. Castellaneta and E. Camesasca, L'opera completa del Perugino, Milan 1969, p. 97, no. 56J
2. See J. Antenucci Becherer, Pietro Perugino, Master of the Italian Renaissance, Grand Rapids, Michigan, 1997, pp. 204-7, cat. no. 17

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