Fragment of a Composition: Attendants Bearing Flagons n.d.

Biagio Pupini made this drawing of attendants bearing flagons out of pen and brown ink with brown wash on laid paper in the mid-16th century. We see, from behind, three men draped in similar garments. Pupini was working in Bologna, which at the time was a Papal State, but he trained in the Roman workshop of Raphael, and this drawing shows Raphael’s lasting influence. During the 16th century, the Catholic Church played a major role in artistic patronage, commissioning art to inspire religious devotion. Yet classical antiquity was also an important influence, providing models for representing the human figure, often in idealized terms. Pupini was working at a time when the status of the artist was changing. No longer simply a craftsman, but an intellectual who studied classical art and anatomy. Art historians consult preparatory sketches like this for insights into workshop practices and how artists developed their compositions. The fragment is a valuable resource that sheds light on the artistic culture of Renaissance Italy.