Aurelio Luini

Bears unidentified collector's mark on the verso;
G. Vallardi (L.1223);
with Colnaghi, New York; acquired in 1992 

Colnaghi, Jean-Luc Baroni, New York, An Exhibition of Master Drawings, 1992, no.9, reproduced

Sold mounted and framed in a modern gilded wooden frame. Window mounted. A loss to the lower left and upper right corner, made up. The edges are uneven, and there are small nicks on each of them. There are cracks and small losses in the paper at the left edge, and a hole above the larger figure's feet (made up). Some thinning of the paper towards the upper right. The paper is slightly foxed, and the ink is a little sunk in parts. The image, however, is still quite strong.
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This impressive work by Aurelio Luini can be closely compared with two very similar studies, both also in pen and ink without wash: one of an apostle, now in the Biblioteca Ambrosiana and first published by Giulio Bora;  the other of two seated prophets, in the Royal Collection, Windsor Castle.¹ The study in the Ambrosiana is inscribed in pen and ink: Aurelio Luvino pi.re, while the one in the Royal Collection is inscribed on its verso, according to Popham and Wilde, in a contemporary hand, perhaps that of the artist: 'd Manno d Aurelio e Lovino pittore d'.

Paintings and drawings by the artist are quite rare.  Most of the existing information about his career comes from his friend Giovanni Paolo Lomazzo.  Son and pupil of Bernardino Luini, Aurelio was very influenced by his father in his early career, as can be seen in his fresco cycle of the life of Christ in the church of San Maurizio, Milan, begun around 1555.  Later he developed his own style, which reflects the innovations introduced in Milan by the Campi.  The majority of Luini's commissions came from religious orders and many of his works can still be found in churches in and around his native Milan.

1. See respectively G. Bora, Disegni dei Manieristi Lombardi, Vicenza 1971, no. 94, reproduced  fig. 94 and A.E. Popham and J. Wilde, The Italian Drawings of the xv and xvi Centuries...at Windsor Castle, London 1949, no. 408, reproduced  fig. 148