A row of seated figures

A photograph of a drawing now in the British Museum (inv. no.1895,0915.599) which is a considered a copy after an unknown work by Pinturicchio. Annotated in ink on the verso.

Ruland (1876) catalogued this drawing as being a study, with variations, for the figures in the lower left of the fresco 'Enea Silvio Piccolomini pays homage to Pope Eugenio IV' (see RCIN 853764) painted by Pinturicchio and his workshop (1502-07/08) in the Piccolomini Library in Siena Cathedral. The decoration of the Piccolomini library was commissioned by Cardinal Francesco Todeschino Piccolomini (later Pope Pius III) in 1502 from Raphael's older Perugian contemporary Pinturicchio. The frescoes illustrate events in the life of Pope Pius II (Enea Silvio Piccolomini), the Cardinal's uncle. Vasari credited Raphael with executing 'some drawings and some cartoons' for the library at the express request of Pinturicchio. Scholarly opinion has been divided over the attribution of preparatory drawings for the frescoes, but at least five drawings convincingly related to the decorative scheme are considered to be by Raphael (see Bibliographic References).