A putto holding a torch and a whip

An engraving by Luca Ciamberlano reproducing, in reverse, the central putto in the fresco The four sibyls painted by the workshop of Raphael c.1511-14 in the Chigi Chapel in Santa Maria della Pace, Rome (see RCIN 835816 for a chromolithograph reproducing the full fresco). In this print, the putto rests on a cloud on which there are also three die. Inscribed with biblical quotation (John 18), and the name of Raphael. Numbered at bottom right: V. Trimmed to image. Annotated on verso. Plate 5 of Ciamberlano's The Mystery of the Passion of Jesus Christ our Lord (Rome, 1621).

Ciamberlano's series, which was dedicated to Scipione Borghese, contained eight prints in addition to the title-page. Each print comprised a reproduction of putto from a fresco by a High Renaissance or Baroque master, depicted on a cloud with an attribute of the Passion, accompanied by a scriptural reference. Another mirror-image series of these prints is known, and has recently been argued to be a copy of Ciamberlano's original (see Zeitler, Bibliographic References).

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.