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Giorgio Vasari

The Conversion of Saint Paul

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 (7.2 × 10.5 in)

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In the collection of Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago · as of July 2026

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FROM THE ART INSTITUTE OF CHICAGO’S CATALOG

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. The paint stains on the drawing’s right side indicate that this was a working drawing used in the painting process.

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