Three grotesque motifs

A photograph of a pen and ink drawing depicting three grotesque motifs now in the Gallerie dell'Accademia, Venice (inv. no. 50 recto). Annotated on the verso.

It was initially suggested that the lower part of this drawing could relate to the grotesques frescoed by Perugino and Pinturicchio's workshops, but more recently these motifs have been compared with juvenile works by Raphael in the contest of Perugino's workshop (see Bibliographic References).

This drawing features a depiction of an angel on the verso: see RCIN 850604 for a photograph of 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, following 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).

A copy of this photograph (RCIN 854195) can be found in the Prince Consort's Raphael Collection, portfolio 46 (970606)