Saint Agostino from Bulagajo, Perugia (San Agostino dalla parte del Bulagajo, Perugia)

An early work by Steinle, this drawing dates from the beginning of the artist’s sojourn in Rome (1828-3). Steinle belonged to the second generation of Nazarenes, a group of young artists who had seceded from Vienna’s academy and committed themselves to the revival of 15th and 16th-century German and Italian art through themes derived from historical and religious sources. Calling themselves the Brotherhood of Saint Luke, they moved to Rome, studied Catholicism, and executed stylized images that recalled the visual sensibility of Renaissance engravings. This view of Saint Agostino and the surrounding landscape is in keeping with the Nazarene’s aesthetic, to which Steinle adhered troughout his career.