This website presents our knowledge and research on this important aspect of the Royal Collection. As of April 2026 it will not be regularly updated and new research on this topic will sit within the main website.

Exhibitions and records of works of art

Prince Albert recognised the importance of photography to record and document notable exhibitions and works of art

AFTER RAPHAEL (1483-1520)

Figure studies

1860

Albumen print | 12.1 x 19 cm (image) | RCIN 2864174

A photograph of a drawing by Raphael (c.1507-08) formerly in the Musée Wicar, Lille, and now in the Musée des Beaux-Arts, Lille (inv. no.473).

The drawing is a preparatory study for the figure of St Bruno in Raphael’s so-called ‘Madonna del Baldacchino’ (c.1507-08), a painting now in the Galleria Palatina, Palazzo Pitti, Florence (inv. no.1912, no.165; see RCIN 850829 for a photograph of it).

Showing the head of man slightly tilted to the left and the half-length figure of a man holding a book.

A copy of this photograph (RCIN 850835) can be found in the Prince Consort's Raphael Collection, portfolio 9 (970568)

  • Creator(s)

    After Raphael (1483-1520) (artist)

    Attributed to Robert Jefferson Bingham (1825-70) (photographer)

    Subject(s)

    Saint Bruno
  • 12.1 x 19 cm (image)

  • Acquired by Queen Victoria and Prince Albert

  • Object type(s)
      • visual works
        • photographs
  • Bibliographic reference(s)

    Brejon de Lavergnée 1997 : Brejon de Lavergnée, B, 1997. Catalogue des dessins Italiens. Collections du Palais des Beaux-Arts de Lille, Paris p. 185, no. 532

    Joannides 1983 : Joannides, P., 1983. The Drawings of Raphael, with a complete catalogue, Oxford p. 176, no. 178

    Capellen 2001 : Capellen, JM, 2001. Raphael : the paintings. Volume 1, The Beginning in Umbria and Florence ca.1500-1508 pp. 276-281, no. 40