Angel scattering flowers on a bearded man seated on the ground

A photograph of a drawing by an artist from the circle of Perugino; part of the 'Libretto Veneziano', now in the Gallerie dell'Accademia, Venice (f. 56r). The figure of the winged angel standing on the left shows similarities with one of the two angels depicted in the so-called ‘Holy Family of Francis I’, a painting attributed to Raphael and his workshop (1518) now in the Musée du Louvre, Paris (inv. no.604). A photograph of the ‘Holy Family of Francis I’ can be found at RCIN 851028.

Showing a winged angel, standing on the left, with outstretched arms, strewing flowers on a bearded man wearing a cap and seating on the ground.

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).