Hybrid lecture: “Perugino and the Management of Styles: ‘Andrea d’Assisi’ Reconsidered” on November 7, 2023 at 6PM

On behalf of the Director of the Netherlands Interuniversity Institute for Art History (NIKI), Michael W. Kwakkelstein, we have the pleasure to invite you to the lecture by our scholar-in-residence, Takuma Ito (Associate Professor, Renaissance Art History, Kyushu University, Japan), entitled “Perugino and the Management of Styles: ‘Andrea d’Assisi’ Reconsidered”.

This lecture discusses how the Umbrian artist responded to clients’ diverse demands and yet assured the high qualities of his products, with particular attention given to the group of paintings once associated with his assistant, Andrea d’Assisi, called Ingegno.

Vasari wrote that Ingegno was the best assistant in Perugino’s workshop, and the master always engaged him in his most important projects. Based on this assertion, a considerable number of works have been ascribed to the painter since studies on him began in the early eighteenth century. Those works also include high-quality paintings that are otherwise considered Perugino’s, such as the tondo representing the Virgin and Child with Saints and Angels (Paris).

A close examination reveals distinct techniques and styles in the paintings of this group. A new consideration of contemporary visual and documentary evidence indicates that the varying techniques and styles signify Perugino’s responsiveness to the clients’ demands rather than the assistant’s participation.

Takuma Ito

Takuma Ito is an Associate Professor in European Art History at Kyushu University, Japan. His research interests centre on the Italian Renaissance, especially the artists’ practice in the fifteenth-century Tuscany. He received his PhD in Scuola Normale Superiore in Pisa in 2007. He is the author of the book La vetrata della Toscana del Quattrocento (Olscki, 2011), the first systematic investigation of the fifteenth-century Tuscan stained-glass windows. His research explores the flexible and often elusive relations among workers with different skills and varying levels of competence. His academic publications also include essential contributions to the studies of Giovanni di Francesco and Domenico Ghirlandaio, such as ‘Ghirlandaio Brothers Reconsidered: The Master of the Saint Louis Madonna as the Young Benedetto Ghirlandaio’ (Journal of the Warburg and Courtauld Institutes, 2020). He is now preparing a book on Florentine painting of the fifteenth century while expanding his research field with the studies on Perugino and the geography of art in Italy around 1500.

The conference is open to the public free of charge. Pre-registration is required to guarantee seating: niki@nikiflorence.org. Please click here to register for online attendance.

The NIKI is located in Florence, Viale Evangelista Torricelli 5.