The façade of Palazzo Branconio dell'Aquila

An etching by Joachim von Sandrart depicting Palazzo Branconio dell'Aquila, a lost palace designed by Raphael c.1520 for Giovanni Battista Branconio dell'Aquila, a papal advisor and goldsmith. This print was published in the "Teutsche Academie der Bau-Bildhauer- und Maler-Kunst" (vol. III, pl. 3). This print is lettered under the image with a scale, the plate number "3" and the title: "Palatium et Habitaculum Raphaelis Santii de Urbino...". On watermarked paper.

According to the title, the building here depicted is Raphael's house. The confusion between Palazzo Branconio and Raphael's house is widespread in various sources (see also RCIN 854138) and the correct identification of the two buildings was only made in 1927. For a print of Raphael's house, see RCIN 854133. See Bibliographic References.

Joachim von Sandrart (1606–1688), from the mid 1660s, devoted himself increasingly to his work as an art theorist and teacher and in 1668 he began to write the "Teutsche Academie" with the help of the poet and publicist Sigmund von Birken; this work was published in three volumes between 1675 and 1680 in Nuremberg. This was a monumental work richly illustrated with hundreds of prints depicting antiquities, architecture and classical mythology, mostly after designs by the author, executed by various printmakers (Jacob von Sandrart, Karl Gustav Amling, Richard Collin, Georg Christoph Eimmart the Younger, Johann Franck, Bartholomeus II Kilian, Philipp Kilian, Melchior Küsel, Johann Jacob von Sandrart, Johann Jacob Thourneysen, Johann Georg Waldreich, Georg Andreas Wolfgang and some anonymous plates). The series of the Palaces of Rome derives from the prints executed by Giovan Battista Falda for the architect Pietro Ferrerio.

Palazzo Branconio dell'Aquila used to stand in the Borgo rione (district), close to St Peter's Basilica, and it was demolished in 1661 to open a small square (Piazza Rusticucci) in front of the Colonnade of St Peter's Square. Thanks to many written and graphic documents related to the various phases of this project, this is one of Raphael's best known architectural endeavours (see Bibliographic References).