The Interaction of Painting and Sculpture in the Art of Perugino

Abstract

Pietro Perugino was one of the most important painters of the Italian Renaissance, yet his career reveals a significant debt to the art of sculpture. The artist regularly utilized sculptures to assist in the design of paintings, and he enjoyed profitable working relationships with many individual sculptors. Perugino looked to sculpture both as a source of inspiration and for its practical value in the studio for study, teaching, and as a source of models. Perugino particularly studied works by Verrocchio, Pollaiuolo, Donatello, and Jacopo Sansovino. His professional interaction with practicing sculptors also proved significant, especially his association with Verrocchio and his rental of a studio in Florence from the heirs of Lorenzo Ghiberti. This studio, called "le porte," was still active, in part, as a sculpture workshop and contained sculpture collected from various ages. With the help of recently discovered documents and a reconsideration of various works of art, this study of Perugino highlights the natural interconnection between painting and sculpture (and painters and sculptors) in the Italian Renaissance workshop.