Holy Family with the Infant Baptist

A photograph of a drawing attributed to the school of Raphael now in the Gabinetto Disegni e Stampe degli Uffizi, Florence (inv. no.10899F).

The drawing is a copy after a sheet now in the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford (inv. no.WA1940.68; see RCIN 851309) generally ascribed to G. F. Penni and thought to be a preliminary study for a tondo usually attributed to him and now housed in the Museo della Badia di Cava dei Tirreni, Salerno.

Another copy of the drawing is in the Albertina, Vienna (inv. no.273; see RCIN 851310). A rectangular version of this composition, generally attributed to the school of Raphael (Perino del Vaga?), is in the Galleria Borghese, Rome (inv. no.464).

A drawing representing the principal group but with a variation in the pose of St Joseph and the addition of numerous figures on either side was listed by Ruland (1876) as being then in the possession of the late Major Kühlen, Rome, possibly the one appeared on the market in 1991 (Lempertz, Köln; 12 December 1991, lot 483). See RCIN 851308.

The photograph shows the Christ Child lying on the ground, being adored by the Virgin and the Infant Baptist, with St Joseph seating at left.