Watercolour, copy after Supper of St Dominic and Crucifixion with Saints, Giovanni Antonio Sogliani in the Convent of San Marco (Florence)

Kaiser rendered the fresco in watercolor, translating the original’s frescoed pigments into a delicate, transparent medium. His copy preserves the linear clarity and restrained palette characteristic of Sogliani’s work, which, despite being rooted in the High Renaissance, retains a conservative, almost archaic quality that aligns with the preferences of his Dominican patrons.

Created in the 1880s, the watercolor was commissioned by the Arundel Society, an organization founded in 1848 to promote the study of art through printed reproductions. In 1884 the image was issued as a chromolithograph (Museum catalogue number 29928), extending its reach to a broader audience interested in Italian Renaissance art.

Sogliani, active mainly in Florence, was a follower of Fra Bartolomeo and likely observed the latter’s frescoes in the Convent of San Marco.

Sogliani, active mainly in Florence, was a follower of Fra Bartolomeo and likely observed the latter’s frescoes in the Convent of San Marco. The Supper of St Dominic, painted in 1536, was originally misattributed to Fra Bartolomeo. Vasari noted that Sogliani’s somewhat antiquated style was encouraged by his Dominican patrons, reflecting a deliberate adherence to older artistic conventions within the convent’s visual program.