Three male heads

A photograph of a drawing by an artist from the circle of Perugino, formerly attributed to Raphael part of the 'Libretto Veneziano' now in the Gallerie dell'Accademia, Venice (f.33r). The head at lower right seems to copy one of the heads of the shepherds from a multi-figure study by Raphael now in the Nationalmuseum, Stockholm (inv. no.296) made in preparation for the 'Adoration of the Magi', the central predella scene of the so-called 'Oddi Altarpiece' now in the Pinacoteca Vaticana, Vatican City (inv. no.335).

This drawing features studies of arms and shoulders on the verso (see RCIN 854294 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 Accademia 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 drawings were catalogued as by an artist contemporary to Raphael, whose juvenile works he copied in this sketchbook (see Bibliographic References).

A copy of this photograph (RCIN 851377) can be found in the Prince Consort's Raphael Collection, portfolio 14 (970573)