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Other Frescoes

Other Frescoes

Enea Silvio Piccolomini pays homage to Pope Eugenius IV

c.1853-76

Albumen print | RCIN 853765

A photograph of a drawing in the Devonshire Collection, Chatsworth (inv. no.966) which is considered to be a copy of a preparatory drawing, perhaps by Raphael, for the fresco 'Enea Silvio Piccolomini pays homage to Pope Eugenio IV' painted by Pinturicchio and his workshop (1502-07/08) in the Piccolomini Library in Siena Cathedral. 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 was catalogued by Ruland (1876) as being 'Raphael's pen and ink washed design for this fresco'; for a photograph of the fresco, see RCIN 853764.
  • Acquired for the Prince Consort's Raphael Collection (c.1853-76)