This website presents our knowledge and research on this important aspect of the Royal Collection. As of April 2026 it will not be regularly updated and new research on this topic will sit within the main website.

Studies

Studies

AFTER RAPHAEL (1483-1520)

The head of one of the Virgin's companions

c.1853-1876

Albumen print | 16.2 x 10.9 cm (sheet of paper) | RCIN 854442

A photograph of a drawing by Raphael (c.1503-1504) now in the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford (inv. no. WA1846.157). Annotated on the verso.

This drawing has been interpreted (see Bibliographic References) as a study for one of the Virgin's companions in the so-called 'Sposalizio', a painting by Raphael (1504) now in the Pinacoteca di Brera, Milan (inv. no.472). See RCIN 851388 for a photograph of the painting.
  • Creator(s)

    After Raphael (1483-1520) (draughtsman)

    Subject(s)

    Blessed Virgin Mary
  • annotation: left top [verso, bottom centre, in ink]

  • 16.2 x 10.9 cm (sheet of paper)

  • Acquired for the Prince Consort's Raphael Collection (c.1853-76)

  • Subject(s)
    • Science, Medicine and Technology
      • Medical sciences
        • Anatomy
          • Heads
    Object type(s)
      • visual works
        • photographs
  • Bibliographic reference(s)

    Joannides 1983 : Joannides, P., 1983. The Drawings of Raphael, with a complete catalogue, Oxford p. 148, no. 63r

    Other number(s)

    Ruland p.332 A.XXII.1