A copy of a sheet of studies by Raphael

A photograph of a drawing in the Musée Conde, Chantilly (inv.no.54) which is a copy of a sheet containing studies by Raphael in the Albertina, Vienna (inv.no.17574; see RCIN 853826) for the angel holding a scroll on the far left-hand side of the fresco The four sibyls painted by the workshop of Raphael c.1511-14 in the Chigi Chapel in Santa Maria della Pace, Rome. Annotated on verso.

This drawing was considered to be by Raphael's own hand for much of the nineteenth century, and that now in the Albertina was thought to be a copy. It was Ruland (1876) who first proposed the opposite attribution, which is now widely accepted (see Peronnet, Bibliographic References for more details).

Raphael was commissioned, probably early in 1511, by the banker Agostino Chigi to decorate his chapel in Santa Maria della Pace. The initial plan of decoration for the chapel included frescoes, two bronze roundels and an altarpiece; however, whilst Raphael executed some designs for the altarpiece, which was to depict the resurrection, it was never executed, and the bronze roundels, whilst cast, appear to never have been installed. The frescoes comprise two registers, with four prophets on the top  (flanking a window) and four sybils below. According to Vasari, portions of the frescoes were painted by Timoteo Viti.