Public collection via the Cleveland Museum of Art
AT-00011209Poros Assailed by the Macedonian Army (recto)
About the Artwork
Perino del Vaga made this spirited pen and ink and wash drawing as a preliminary sketch for a fresco cycle depicting the military campaigns of Alexander the Great, intended for the apartments of Pope Paul III in the Castel Sant’Angelo in Rome. At the time, he was also working on commissions at the Vatican Palace where he studied and drew from the frescoes of Michelangelo in the Sistine Chapel. One pose in the drawing, that of the man in front who, sword poised over his head, prepares to strike a man below, was probably inspired by Michelangelo’s rendering of David and Goliath on the ceiling. Perino adapted the violent pose for a military rather than biblical subject, filling out the scene with trumpeting elephants and a pile of soldiers in combat. On the verso of the sheet, Perino drew a quick sketch of a standing camel and another, closer view of the animal's head and legs.
Inscriptions
lower center, in brown ink: P.d Vago ; lower right, in brown ink: aud
Provenance
[Robert Frary, Winter Park, Florida]
Data retrieved from the Cleveland Museum of Art on October 8, 2026. The museum may have updated its record since.
Quick Overview
- Artist
- Perino del Vaga (Italian, 1501–1547)
- Date
- c. 1545/47
- Medium
- pen and brown ink (iron gall) and brush and brown wash; framing lines in gold paint
- Dimensions
- Sheet: 19.3 x 27.4 cm (7 5/8 x 10 13/16 in.); Secondary Support: 22.5 x 30.5 cm (8 7/8 x 12 in.)
- Type
- Drawing
- Classification
- Drawing
- Department
- Drawings
- Credit line
- Delia E. Holden and L. E. Holden Funds
- Accession no.
- 1992.3.a
More by Perino del Vaga in museum collections
Studies of Warriors, Horsemen, and Lions (recto); Studies of Heads and Nude Figures, Ceiling Plan, and Inscriptions (verso)
Perino del Vaga1528/33 · Drawing
Public collection via the Art Institute of Chicago
AT-00004595
The Virgin Enthroned with Saints Gregory and James, and a Family of Donors
Perino del Vaga1535/36 · Drawing
Public collection via the Art Institute of Chicago
AT-00005981
Study of a Nude Seen from the Back, and Two Studies of an Arm (recto); Nude Seen from the Back, with Subsidiary Studies of a Shoulder and Leg (verso)
Perino del Vagac. 1528 · Drawing
Public collection via the Art Institute of Chicago
AT-00006017
Poros Assailed by the Macedonian Army (recto); Sketches of Animals (verso)
Perino del Vagac. 1545/47 · Drawing
Public collection via the Cleveland Museum of Art
AT-00011169
Open-access museum record · AT-00011209
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