- Museum number
- 1848,1125.11
- Description
-
St Paul overcoming the viper; in an interior with architectural features behind
Pen and brown ink, with brown wash, heightened with white (discoloured), on light brown prepared paper, with lines indented
- Production date
- 1540-1547 (circa)
- Dimensions
-
Height: 267 millimetres
-
Width: 172 millimetres (oval)
- $Inscriptions
-
- Curator's comments
- For the identification of the subject and for related drawings by Perino for the two see Bernice Davidson's 1990 article. Her discovery of an inventory record of two copies for Paul III, one with scenes from the life of St Paul and the other of St Peter, made sense of why Perino created two sets of drawings showing scenes from the lives of the two saints.
Another copy after this one is in the Galleria Nazionale delle Marche, Urbino (1883). A possibly autograph variant is in the Warsaw Library (Wojciechowski 2007, no. 145).
Lit.: P. Pouncey and J.A. Gere, 'Italian Drawings in the BM, Raphael and his circle', London, 1962, I, no. 172, II, pl. 142; B.F. Davidson, 'The cope embroderies designed for Paul III by Perino del Vaga', "Master Drawings", XXVIII, Summer 1990, p. 138, fig. 13; H. Chapman, in exhib. cat. (E. Parma ed.), Mantua, Palazzo Te, Perino del Vaga: tra Raffaello e Michelangelo', 2001, no. 149 (with previous literature); J. Wojciechowski, in exhib. cat., Lodzi, Museum Sztuki and Warsaw, University Library, '16th century Italian drawings from the Print Room collection in the University of Warsaw Library', 2007, under no. 145
Pouncey & Gere 1962
This composition, of which there is an engraving by Bonasone (B. xv, p. 130, 71 ; inscr. "Pirino del Vago i. V."), is one of a series, identical in shape, of which four others are known:
1. 'Ananias healing S. Paul's blindness'. Drawing at Windsor (Popham 978), with outlines pricked as for embroidery.
2. 'A bearded Saint preaching'. Engraving by Bonasone (B. xv, p. 130, 72; inscr. "pirino del vaga inintor . . . 154(7?)"); drawings at Chatsworth (case 34, no. 158) and in the Uffizi (487F; Gernsheim 10629).
3. 'The Sacrifice at Lystra'. Drawing in the Uffizi (1496E; Braun 76178).
4. 'S. Paul lowered from the walls of Damascus'. Chiaroscuro woodcut (B. xii, p. 75, 21; inscr. "P. VAGA INVENT"); drawings at Chatsworth (case 34, no. 164) and in the Giulio Romano album in the collection of the Earl of Ellesmere.
Three similar compositions, which may belong to the same series, differ from these in having shaped frames (described by Bartsch as 'cadres bombés'). These are:
5. 'S. Peter walking on the water'. Engraving by Reverdino (B. xv, p. 469, 6).
6. 'SS. Peter and John healing a cripple at the gate of the Temple'. Engraving by Bonasone (B. xv, p. 130, 73; inscr.: "PIRINO DEL VAGA IVENTOR"); drawings in the Uffizi (1501E), Metropolitan Museum (08. 227. 34) and coll. Earl of Plymouth. Another, from the Gelosi Coll., was Lawrence Gallery, Fifth Exhibition, no. 77.
7. 'S. Peter receiving the Keys'. Drawing in the Dijon Museum (Devosge Coll.) 700, as Giulio Romano, with outlines pricked as for embroidery. Copy in Louvre (644).
Both Voss ('Spätrenaissance', p. 71)* and Popham identify these compositions with the "otto storie di San Piero, tratte dagli Atti degli Apostoli, le quali fece [Perino] in disegno perchè ne fusse ricamato per papa Paolo terzo un piviale" and which Vasari says were engraved (Vasari, v, pp. 631 f.). To this it could be objected that only three of the eight scenes demonstrably represent S. Peter, and that five ovals and three 'cadres bombés' cannot be arranged symmetrically on the orphrey of a cope. The latter is the more serious objection: one might expect to find S. Paul represented on a vestment made for a Pope who had taken this name, and in Vasari's mind the distinction between a scene with S. Peter as protagonist and one with S. Paul might well have become blurred. The pricking on the Windsor and Dijon drawings suggests that both shapes were embroidered. If all eight scenes were for one cope, the shapes of some of them must have been altered; but since the three scenes which certainly represent S. Peter are 'bombé', it is possible that there were two copes, one with ovals of S. Paul and other Apostles, the other with 'bombé' scenes representing S. Peter.
1848,1125.11 is interpreted by Bartsch as 'S. Paul putting to flight the Devil' in the form of a dragon, but no such incident appears to be recorded. This saint may be S. Philip the Apostle (cf. Mrs. Jameson, 'Sacred and Legendary Art', London, 1850, p. 144).
A version of 1848,1125.11, slightly smaller and on blue paper, from the Lely Collection, is in the National Gallery of Scotland (1637, as Polidoro). Bodmer, ever ready to expand Tibaldi's oeuvre at Perino's expense, attributes 1848,1125.11 to the former.
Literature: BM Guide, 1858, no. 26; Popham, Windsor, under 978; H. Bodmer in Thieme-Becker, s.v. Tibaldi.
* Voss connects with the group a similarly pricked oval drawing of S. John the Evangelist, in the Uffizi (289s, as Giulio Romano; Gernsheim 22330). The oval, however, is a different shape, and this is a symbolic representation of the saint, with the eagle and book. Moreover, Perino's responsibility for this design seems far from certain. It may well have formed part of a series of the Apostles: two companion sheets (photos BM) represent Peter (also pricked) and Bartholomew.
- Location
- Not on display
- Exhibition history
-
2001 Mar-June, Palazzo Te, Mantua, "Perino del Vaga: between Raphael and Michelangelo'
- Acquisition date
- 1848
- Department
- Prints and Drawings
- Registration number
- 1848,1125.11
