The Trinity with Christ Bearing the Cross
n.d.
Medium
Pen and black ink with brush and gray wash, heightened with white gouache, squared in graphite, on gray tinted laid paper, laid down on board
Dimensions
20.2 × 10.8 cm (8 × 4 5/16 in.)
Classification
pen and ink drawings
Department
Prints and Drawings
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
82556
Art Historical Context
Raffaello Vanni’s *The Trinity with Christ Bearing the Cross* presents a compact yet powerful religious vision. Created in pen and black ink with gray wash and white gouache highlights on gray-tinted paper, the drawing captures the divine figures with luminous contrasts that draw the viewer’s eye across the small sheet. At just over eight inches tall, the work feels intimate, inviting quiet contemplation of its sacred subject. The technique of squaring the composition in graphite indicates that Vanni prepared this sheet as a study for transfer to a larger painting or fresco. Such drawings all...