The Conversion of Saint Paul

Giorgio VasariWW-1554-119036

1554·Pen and brown ink, brush and brown wash, with splatters of gray, green and pink paint over black chalk, squared in black chalk, on cream laid paper, with framing lines in pen and brown ink, laid down on secondary paper·18.2 × 26.7 cm (7 3/16 × 10 9/16 in.)

<p>This lively sketch is a preparatory drawing for one of three 1555 frescoes that Vasari painted for a church ceiling vault in the central Italian town of Cortona. The artist’s line, rapidly applied in pen and ink, belies the careful thought given to the composition, in which Vasari makes utmost use of the scene’s horizontal format.</p> <p>The paint stains on the drawing’s right side indicate that this was a working drawing used in the painting process.</p>

Catalogue

Year: 1554
Medium: Pen and brown ink, brush and brown wash, with splatters of gray, green and pink paint over black chalk, squared in black chalk, on cream laid paper, with framing lines in pen and brown ink, laid down on secondary paper
Dimensions: 18.2 × 26.7 cm (7 3/16 × 10 9/16 in.)
Collection: Art Institute of Chicago
Artist: Giorgio Vasari

Artist

Giorgio Vasari

Painting

Giorgio Vasari was an Italian Renaissance painter, architect, art historian, and biographer known for his work Lives of the Most Excellent Painters, Sculptors, and Architects, considered the ideological foundation of Western art-historical writing, and still much cited in modern biographies of the many Italian Renaissance artists he covers, including Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo, although he is since regarded as including many factual errors, especially when covering artists from before he was born.

Arezzo, Italy

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