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St. Augustine Liberating through a Window a Man Imprisoned by the Wicked Tyrant of Pavia

Artist Bernardino Luini (Italian, 1480 – 1532)

Date16th Century

MediumPen and brown ink and brush and brown wash with white gouache

DimensionsIMAGE: 8 15/16 x 9 13/16 in. (22.7 x 24.9 cm)
FRAMED: 17 5/8 x 20 3/16 in. (44.8 x 51.3 cm)

ClassificationsDrawings

Credit LineMuseum purchase, 1961

Object numberSN718

The present work by Ambrogio Bergognone was clearly used as a model for a painting. Visible throughout the composition are small pinholes, indicating that the drawing was pricked for "pouncing." A technique found most widely in Italian Renaissance workshops between 1450 and 1520, pouncing was utilized after an artist finished a full-scale drawing (cartoon) of his composition. He would prick the outlines and contours with a sharp instrument, and rub ground charcoal on the surface, which transferred the design to the panel underneath. In the Ringling sheet, the black charcoal dust of the pounce is still visible on St. Augustine and the female figure. The drawing was most likely a cartoon for a predella (the narrow support on which an altarpiece rests). The provincial style of the drawing and the heavy, stiff figures and drapery are characteristic of drawings intended for pouncing, which tended to be static and routine in execution to ensure clarity and continuity. The exactness of contour and detail also suggests that the sheet served not only as a cartoon, but also as a finished design to be approved by the patron.

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