Three male heads

A print after a drawing by an artist from the circle of Perugino, formerly attributed to Raphael; part of the 'Libretto Veneziano', now in the Gallerie dell'Accademia, Venice (f. 33r). Published in 'Disegni originali di Raffaello Sanzio [...] nella Imperial Regia Accademia di belle arti di Venezia', Venice 1829, plate II.

The head at lower right seems to copy one of the heads of the shepherds from a multi-figure study by Raphael now in the Nationalmuseum, Stockholm (inv. no.296) made in preparation for the 'Adoration of the Magi', the central predella scene of the so-called 'Oddi Altarpiece' now in the Pinacoteca Vaticana, Vatican City (inv. no.335). A photograph of the drawing in Stockholm can be found at RCIN 851376.

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).