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| Pordenone Prophet and Sibyls ca. 1530-32 drawing for fresco in Piacenza Cathedral British Museum |
"This drawing [above] is a study for the south-east section of the dome with the central figure of Habakkuk in Piacenza Cathedral (S. Maria di Campagna) painted in 1530-32. The drawing is a careful study of the lighting of the figures. Technical examination during a recent cleaning of the dome has shown that Pordenone did not use cartoons for the figures in the dome except for God the Father in the oculus. Traces of squaring on the surface indicate that Pordenone copied his designs directly from squared drawings such as this one. Three drawings of comparable finish and technique for other sections of the dome survive in the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford; the Royal Collection, Windsor Castle; and at the Kunsthalle, Bremen."
– curator's notes from the British Museum
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| Pordenone Prophet and Sibyls ca. 1530-32 drawing for fresco in Piacenza Cathedral Royal Collection, Great Britain |
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| attributed to Pordenone St Christopher carrying the Christ Child ca. 1518-22 drawing British Museum |
"This drawing [above] was issued as a coloured facsimile by the British Museum in 'Reproductions of Drawings by Old Masters in the British Museum' Part II, published by the Trustees, 1891 where it was number XII and described there as 'Attributed to Bernardino Licinio ('Il Pordenone'), Sketch for a Picture of St Christopher.'
– curator's notes from the British Museum (citing half a dozen authorities from the past century who attribute the St Christopher drawing to Pordenone and another half dozen who do not)
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| Pordenone Lamentation 1522 preparatory drawing for fresco in Cremona Cathedral British Museum |
The drawing directly above and the drawing directly below reflect entirely different relationships to the original Pordenone frescoes that mirror them. The first was drawn by the artist before a fresco was painted, in order to prepare for it. The second was drawn by an unknown person after a fresco had been painted, in order to record its appearance. Scholars of art history, confronted simply by a drawing that duplicates a painting, have learned never to assume that the drawing preceded the painting. Internal evidence of various sorts combined with various sorts of evidence from external sources must in most cases be balanced together before a reasonable conjecture can be attempted.
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| copy after Pordenone Group of Angels after 1529 drawing based on Pordenone's fresco in the Immaculate Conception Chapel, SS Annunziata, Cortemaggiore British Museum |
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| Fabio Licinio after Pordenone Annunciation ca. 1544 engraving of fresco in Sta. Maria degli Angeli, Murano British Museum |
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| copy after Pordenone Joachim driven from the Temple ca. 1550-1600 anonymous Italian drawing after Pordenone's original drawing now in the Uffizi in Florence British Museum |
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| David Teniers the Younger after Pordenone Raising of Lazarus ca. 1656-60 etching and engraving printed by Jan von Troyen after Teniers' drawing of Pordenone's painting British Museum |
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| Andrea Zucchi after Pordenone St Lorenzo Giustiniani in Glory with two canons and four saints ca. 1720 etching and engraving after painting by Pordenone British Museum |
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| Gaetano Venzo after Pordenone Hercules defeating Achelous who has taken the form of a bull ca. 1790-1820 stipple-engraving after painting (now lost) by Pordenone British Museum |
"Going afterwards to Venice . . he also painted many scenes in fresco on the façade of the house of Martin d'Anna on the same Grand Canal; in particular a Curtius on horseback in foreshortening [below], which has the appearance of being wholly in the round, like the Mercury flying freely through the air, not to speak of many other things that all prove his ability. That work pleased the whole city of Venice beyond measure, and Pordenone was therefore extolled more highly than any other man who had ever worked in the city up to that time. Among reasons that caused him to give an incredible amount of effort to all his works, was his rivalry with the most excellent Tiziano; since, setting himself to compete with him, he hoped by means of continual study and by a bold and resolute method of working in fresco to wrest from the hands of Tiziano that sovereignty which he had gained with so many beautiful works . . ."
– Giorgio Vasari, from Lives of the Painters, Sculptors and Architects (1568), translated by Gaston du C. de Vere (1912)
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| Niccolò Vicentino after Pordenone Leaping Horseman (Marcus Curtius) ca. 1530 chiaroscuro woodcut after Pordenone fresco on outdoor façade in Venice British Museum |
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| Niccolò Vicentino after Pordenone Saturn holding balances ca. 1530 chiaroscuro woodcut after Pordenone fresco on outdoor façade in Venice British Museum |
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| Niccolò Vicentino after Pordenone Saturn holding balances ca. 1540-50 chiaroscuro woodcut after Pordenone fresco on outdoor façade in Venice British Museum |
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| Niccolò Vicentino after Pordenone Saturn holding balances 1604 chiaroscuro woodcut after Pordenone fresco reprinted by Andrea Andreani British Museum |
Sixteenth-century Venice was full of buildings with gorgeous frescoes painted on their outsides – fully half of Pordenone's total output was devoted to such works – all of which deteriorated in the salt dampness and brightness, disappearing within decades.