A concert

A facsimile etching after a pen and ink drawing by Raphael depicting a concert now in the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford (inv. no. WA1846.166 recto). This print is lettered with a title. Signed by the printmaker, with publication details. Annotated on the verso.

This print was published in "The Italian School of Design", a series of 84 plates published monthly by William Young Ottley from 1812 to 1823 (see RCIN 1191618 for the volume). The drawings published in this series were in Ottley's own collection - most of which was sold in 1823 to Sir Thomas Lawrence.

It has been suggested that this drawing could be a representation of a Muse (the draped woman playing possibly a harp), Apollo (the figure on the right playing a rebec-violin) and Bacchus (the figure on the left playing a trombone). The idea proposed by Robinson that the drawing was to be used for some furniture has been rejected by Parker in the catalogue of the Italian drawings of the Ashmolean Museum (see Bibliographic References). Joannides (see Bibliographic References) suggested that this drawing was probably en suite with another drawing by Raphael in the Ashmolean Museum (inv. no. WA1846.165), perhaps for the decoration of a musical instrument. See RCIN 852285 for a photograph of WA1846.165.

On the verso of the same sheet is a study for the dead Christ carried to the tomb, which has been identified as being preparatory for the Borghese Entombment (see RCIN 850248 for a photograph of the verso).