AURELIO LUINI
21 Sheet of Studies of Various
Figures
Pen and brown ink, brown wash, and white gouache
heightening on paper washed blue; H: 26.7 cm (10 V 2 in);
W: i8cm(7I/i6in.)
85.00.229
MARKS AND INSCRIPTIONS: (Recto) at top left corner,
inscribed 132 in brown ink; at bottom right corner, in-
scribed Luini in brown ink; unknown round collection
mark; (verso) inscribed NT/7 in red chalk.
PROVENANCE: Charles Gasc, Paris; private collection,
Paris; art market, Zurich.
EXHIBITIONS: None.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: M. di Giampaolo, "Review of G: Bora,
IDisegni Lombard! e Genovesi del Cinquecento," Prospettiva
no. 37 (April 1984), pp. 76, 78.
THIS EXCEPTIONALLY WELL-PRESERVED SHEET WAS
first published by di Giampaolo (1984, p. 78), who re-
lated it to figures of apostles below the fresco of the As-
sumption in Santa Maria di Campagna, Pallanza.^1 It may
well be true that the figure at the lower right of the Mu-
seum's drawing was preparatory for the apostle in the
center left of the fresco,^2 but it is less clear that other stud-
ies from the sheet are connected to this section of the
fresco cycle, as di Giampaolo has suggested. Bora does
not accept the relationship between them, but dates the
drawing to the 15705 in any case.^3
The analysis of this drawing is further complicated
by the presence of various other figures entirely unre-
lated to the Pallanza frescoes. They include the two ver-
sions of Saint Mary Magdalene near the bottom of the
sheet, a figure of Charity (?) at the upper right, and un-
identifiable studies of a seated figure and the back of a
partially draped one.
The technique of the drawing is noteworthy. The
complex distribution of forms across the sheet occurs in
other drawings by Luini, but the rich use of white height-
ening and wash gives exceptional luminosity. It has been
suggested by DeGrazia that the technique indicates the
influence of Barocci on Luini.^4 As is suggested by the
number inscribed at the upper left of the sheet, it may
well have formed part of a sketchbook by the artist.1. See also G. Bora, "Un ciclo di affreschi, due artisti e una
bottega a S. Maria di Campagna a Pallanza," Arte lombarda 52,
pt. 2 (1979), pp. 90-106.
2. Ibid., fig. 6.
3. Conversation withD. DeGrazia, 1986, related to the author.
4. Conversation with the author, 1986.62 ITALIAN SCHOOL • LUINI