One Angel Blowing a Trumpet, and Another Holding a Standard
c. 1500
Medium
pen and brown ink, squared in red chalk for transfer on laid paper; laid down
Dimensions
overall: 16.9 x 13 cm (6 5/8 x 5 1/8 in.)
Classification
Drawing
Department
CG-E
Museum
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
Credit
Woodner Collection, Gift of Andrea Woodner
Accession Number
2006.11.5
Art Historical Context
In the early 16th century, Florentine artist Fra Bartolommeo (1472–1517) created this dynamic preparatory drawing, *One Angel Blowing a Trumpet, and Another Holding a Standard*, around 1500. Executed in pen and brown ink with red chalk squaring on laid paper, it measures a compact 16.9 x 13 cm and exemplifies the High Renaissance emphasis on precise draftsmanship. The squaring—faint grid lines in red chalk—reveals its practical purpose: transferring the design to a larger surface, such as a fresco or panel painting, a technique vital for scaling up compositions in workshops of the era. Fra Ba...