Enea Silvio Piccolomini crowned Poet Laureate by Emperor Frederick III

A photograph of a pen and ink drawing catalogued by Ruland (1876) as 'the original ...  design' for the fresco 'Enea Silvio Piccolomini crowned Poet Laureate by Emperor Frederick III' painted by Pinturicchio and his workshop (1502-07/08) in the Piccolomini Library in Siena Cathedral. According to Ruland (1876), this drawing was then in the Brera collection in Milan. Annotated in ink on the verso.

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). This drawing is not included as an autograph Raphael in Joannides (1983); according to the annotation in ink on the verso, which must date from prior to 1876, the drawing was thought to be an early copy of an original design by Raphael for the Poet Laureate fresco. For a photograph of a study made by Raphael for this fresco, see RCIN 853758.