A view of Urbino

A photograph reproducing a pen and ink drawing depicting a view of Urbino now in the Gallerie dell'Accademia, Venice (inv. no. 74 verso). This drawing is on the verso of a sheet depicting a view of a town (see RCIN 854526 for a photograph of the recto). Annotated on the verso. 

Ferino Pagden (see Bibliographic References) notes that Passavant recognised this landscape as a view of Urbino seen from the hill where Raphael's house used to stand. From a similar viewpoint, Federico Barocci depicted Urbino in the background of the Crucifixion (c.1604) now at the Prado, Madrid (inv. no. P007092). Various discrepancies between the two views have been identified, in particular related to the architecture of Palazzo Ducale. These have been interpreted as either reflecting the changes that the Palazzo underwent during the 16th century or as inaccuracies by Raphael, whose original drawing is considered the model after which this view was copied.

This drawing is part of the so-called "Libretto di Raffaello" or "Libretto Veneziano", 53 sheets that used to be mounted in a volume. After complicated negotiations, the sketchbook was bought by the museum in the 1820s, after the death of Giuseppe Bossi, who was its previous owner. A number of scholars debated the author of the drawings (with many names proposed, such as Pinturicchio, Antonio da Viterbo, Eusebio del Giorgio, Girolamo Genga) and their date. In 1984, the Gallerie dell'Accademia catalogued the drawings as by an artist contemporary to Raphael, whose juvenile works he copied in this sketchbook (see Bibliographic References).