An acanthus leaf

A photograph of a pen and ink drawing depicting a study of acanthus leaf now in the Gallerie dell'Accademia, Venice (inv. no. 87 verso). It has been noted that this drawing – possibly copied directly from a capital –  appears similar to the lesenes frescoed in the Libreria Piccolomini, Siena (see Bibliographic References). Annotated on the verso.

This drawing is part of the so-called "Libretto di Raffaello" or "Libretto Veneziano", 53 sheets that used to be mounted in a volume. After complicated negotiations, the sketchbook was bought by the museum in the 1820s, after the death of Giuseppe Bossi, who was its previous owner. A number of scholars debated the author of the drawings (with many names proposed, such as Pinturicchio, Antonio da Viterbo, Eusebio del Giorgio, Girolamo Genga) and their date. In 1984, the Gallerie dell'Accademia catalogued the drawings as by an artist contemporary to Raphael, whose juvenile works he copied in this sketchbook (see Bibliographic References).