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.

Holy Families & Madonna and Child

Holy Families & Madonna and Child

LOUIS-FÉLIX BUTAVAND (1808-53)

A study for the Virgin and Child

c.1828-1843

Crayon-manner, printed in reddish brown, with tone plate | 33.6 x 25.0 cm (sheet of paper) | RCIN 851036

A facsimile of a life study attributed to Raphael (c.1518) now in the Musée du Louvre, Paris (inv. no.3862). The drawing is a preparatory study for the figures of the Virgin and Child in the so-called ‘Holy Family of Francis I’, a painting attributed to Raphael and his workshop (1518) currently in the Musée du Louvre, Paris (inv. no.604). With the blind stamp of the Chalcographie du Louvre at lower right. A photograph of the ‘Holy Family of Francis I’ can be found at RCIN 851028.

Showing a full-length seated female figure, turned to the left, reaching for a child coming from the left, sketched with only a few lines.
  • Creator(s)

    Louis-Félix Butavand (1808-53) (engraver)

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

  • 33.6 x 25.0 cm (sheet of paper)

    24.7 x 17.9 cm (image)

    32.8 x 23.9 cm (platemark)

  • Added to the Prince Consort's Raphael Collection (c.1853-76)

  • Subject(s)
    • Religion & Theology
      • Religions and faiths
        • Christianity
          • Life of Christ
            • Infancy of Christ
              • Christ Child
  • Bibliographic reference(s)

    pp.504-506, no. 875 (Cordellier/Py 1992 : Raphael : son atelier, ses copistes, 1992 / par Dominique Cordellier et Bernadette Py, Paris (Inventaire general des dessins Italiens ; V / sous la direction de Francoise Viatte))

    p. 233, no0. 393 (Joannides 1983 : Joannides, P., 1983. The Drawings of Raphael, with a complete catalogue, Oxford)

    pp. 170-177, no. 62 (Capellen 2005 : Capellen, JM, 2005. Raphael : the paintings. Volume 2, The Roman Religious Paintings ca.1508-1520 )