A dance of fauns and bacchantes

An etching by Bartsch of a drawing attributed either to Raphael or Giulio Romano now in the Albertina, Vienna (inv. no.217). This print is lettered with the attribution to Raphael and signed by the printmaker.

This drawing has been compared with two prints of similar subject by Agostino Veneziano and Marcantonio Raimondi (see RCINs 854576 and 854579 for them). According to Massari (see Bibliographic References), the print by Agostino that Bartsch catalogued as the original is actually a copy after Marcantonio's print. Only the left half of Marcantonio's print is known, which could suggest that Agostino extended the composition to include the other three figures on the right.

Massari (see Bibliographic References) recognised various drawings as the possible source of the prints by Agostino and Marcantonio: as well as the drawing reproduced in this print, a drawing after Raphael now in the Royal Library, Windsor (RCIN 990331, see also RCIN 854583) and another drawing of a bacchante and a faun in the Louvre, Paris (inv. no. 5001), previously attributed to Battista Franco and now believed to be by Giulio Romano on the basis of another drawing's attribution in the Louvre (inv. no. 5002).

According to S. Ferino (see Bibliographic References) the various drawings could be studies intended for grotesque decorations, either the frescoes of Cardinal Bibiena's Loggetta (c.1516) or the Logge (c.1516 -1518/19) in the Vatican. For the drawing now in the Louvre (inv. no. 5001) it is specified that this is inspired by the characters of a relief of the 1st century (now in Mantua, Palazzo Ducale, inv. no. 6705).