Exhibitions and records of works of art
Prince Albert recognised the importance of photography to record and document notable exhibitions and works of art
Study for the allegorical figure of Poetry
c. 1857Albumen print? | RCIN 2864404
The roundel for which this drawing is a study depicts Poetry, flanked by two winged putti holding inscribed panels, from the vault of the Stanza della Segnatura, where it is painted above the fresco of 'Parnassus'. From 1508 until his death in 1520, Raphael undertook the decoration of a number of spaces in the Vatican Palace for, first, Pope Julius II and, later, Leo X. The first of these commissions was for what was probably the Pope's private library, known as the Stanza della Segnatura. The major aspects of the decorative scheme of the room are as follows: personifications of Poetry, Theology, Jurisprudence and Philosophy in roundels on the vault, with four narrative scenes known as the School of Athens, the Parnassus, the Disputa and the Three Cardinal Virtues on the walls below.
A copy of this photograph (RCIN 852627) can be found in the Prince Consort's Raphael Collection, portfolio 27 (970586)
Creator(s)
After Raphael (1483-1520) (artist)
Attributed to Charles Thurston Thompson (1816-68) (photographer)
- Acquired by Queen Victoria and Prince Albert
Subject(s)
- Places
- Europe
- Italy
- Lazio [Italy]
- Rome [Lazio]
- Vatican City [Rome]
- Vatican Palace [Vatican City]
- Stanza della Segnatura [Vatican Palace]
- Vatican-Stanza della Segnatura-Ceiling
- Stanza della Segnatura [Vatican Palace]
- Vatican Palace [Vatican City]
- Vatican City [Rome]
- Rome [Lazio]
- Lazio [Italy]
- Italy
- Europe
Object type(s)
- visual works
- photographs
- Places
Bibliographic reference(s)
Joannides 1983 : Joannides, P., 1983. The Drawings of Raphael, with a complete catalogue, Oxford p.194, no.248
Clayton 1999 : Clayton, M. Raphael and his Circle. Drawings from Windsor Castle, London pp.65-8, no.15