The seated Christ Child

A stipple after a drawing by an artist from the circle of Perugino part of the 'Libretto Veneziano', now in the Gallerie dell'Accademia, Venice (f.18r). Published in 'Disegni originali di Raffaello Sanzio [...] nella Imperial Regia Accademia di belle arti di Venezia', Venice 1829, plate III. A photograph of the original drawing can be found at RCIN 851295.

The print shows the full-length Christ Child, seated, with His left arm reaching for something (possibly the Virgin's hand) at His right; a sketch of the head of a child at upper right.

The drawing reproduced in this print 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).