The death of Meleager: the 'Borghese Entombment'

A reversed etching after a drawing by Raphael (c.1506-1507) now in the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford (inv. no. WA1846.180) for the 'Borghese Entombment', a painting executed by Raphael (1507) now in the Galleria Borghese, Rome (inv.no. 170). This print is lettered with a title, followed by production details: 'D'après le dessein de Raphaël d'Urbin, qui est dans le Cabinet de Mr. Crozat gravé par Mr. le Comte de C...'; numbered at the lower right "42". This print was part of the "Recueil d'estampes d'après les plus beaux tableaux et d'après les plus beaux desseins qui sont en France" (also known as 'Recueil Crozat'), a series of plates commissioned by Crozat, with 140 plates published in 1729 and a second volume in 1740. 

This drawing is inspired by an ancient sarcophagus relief depicting the 'Death of Meleager'. This drawing features a study for Adam on the verso (see RCIN 850176 for a photograph of the verso). See RCIN 850262 for a photograph of the drawing.

The so-called 'Borghese Entombment' used to be the central panel of an altarpiece ('Baglioni Altarpiece') executed by Raphael for the church of San Francesco al Prato in Perugia and commissioned by Atalanta Baglioni to commemorate the death of her son Grifonetto, who was murdered in 1500. Raphael is documented in Perugia in 1505, when scholars believe that Raphael received the commission, and the majority of his preparatory drawings are dated c.1506-1507.

A considerable number of sketches and studies by Raphael for this composition are known and they reflect the different phases towards the definition of the pictorial programme. The scene depicted in the painting is the moment in which Christ's body is carried to the grave, with the separate group of the three Marys supporting the Virgin to the right. The more conventional iconographies of the Entombment and the Lamentation over Christ's body have here been transformed by Raphael into a more narrative painting.

By order of the nephew of Pope Paul V, Scipione Borghese, in 1608 the painting was removed from its original location and housed in the Borghese collection in Rome, where it remained until 1797 when it was confiscated by Napoleon and taken to Paris. In 1815 it was returned to the Galleria Borghese.