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 A WORK COPYING MICHELANGELO BUONARROTI (CAPRESE 1475-ROME 1564)

Two children wrestling

1860

Albumen print | 17.6 x 10.5 cm (image) | RCIN 2864190

A photograph of a drawing now in the Musée des Beaux-Arts, Lille (inv. Pl 494). The drawing, formerly attributed to Raphael or to a member of his circle, has been identified by Pluchart (1889) as a copy after Michelangelo's wrestling putti painted on the left of the Libyan Sibyl in the Sistine Chapel. Ruland (1876) catalogued the drawing as being then in the Wicar Museum, Lille.

This drawing features a study of a nude man on the verso (see RCIN 854324 for a photograph of the verso).

A copy of this photograph (RCIN 851908) can be found in the Prince Consort's Raphael Collection, portfolio 18 (970577)

  • Creator(s)

    After a work copying Michelangelo Buonarroti (Caprese 1475-Rome 1564) (artist)

    After a work previously attributed to Raphael (1483-1520) (artist)

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

  • 17.6 x 10.5 cm (image)

  • Acquired by Queen Victoria and Prince Albert

  • Subject(s)
    • People
      • Children
    • Natural Sciences & Mathematics
      • Biological sciences
        • Zoology
          • Animals
            • Mythical creatures
              • Putti
    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 pp.332-3, no.832r