Tradition and Innovation: Perugino’s Workshop Practices through Raphael’s Drawings

• In Event: Crossroads of Creation: Artistic Workshops in Renaissance Italy II: Toward a New Individualism

Abstract

Perugino (ca. 1450-1523) stands out amongst his contemporaries for his prolific activity, carried out through his two workshops in Florence and Perugia. His corpus of drawings document extensively the role of the master, the contributions and participation of the assistants, and the artistic exchange that occurred in the process. In the context of these workshop drawings, this paper reconsiders Perugino’s relationship with his most celebrated pupil, Raphael, who, later in Rome, would have applied the organizational principles and collaborative production process of Perugino’s workshops to his own enterprise. While Raphael’s drawings have been broadly studied, the evidence they provide has yet to be used to trace Raphael’s innovation of Perugino’s model, and to establish continuity between the two intergenerational workshops. I will examine a number of drawings which illustrate how Raphael depended not only on Perugino’s working methods, but also on his motifs and designs, thus substantiating the master-pupil relationship.

Author

• Jennifer Kim, Independent Scholar