The lion hunt

An outline etching depicting in reverse a sarcophagus relief of the mid 3rd century AD, which according to Giorgio Vasari (1511-1574) was then in the forecourt of St Peter's Basilica, Rome. This print is lettered with "411" at the upper right corner and the title in French, German and English at the bottom of the print. Signed by the printmaker with the attribution of the drawing to Raphael. This print was published as plate 411 in C.P. Landon, 'Vie et Œuvre complète de Raphaël Sanzio', 1803. See RCIN 854605 for an engraving of the same subject by Marcantonio Raimondi. Trimmed within the platemark.

The sarcophagus, which depicts a scene of a lion hunt, is now in Palazzo Rospigliosi, Rome. This engraving has been catalogued by the British Museum (see Bibliographic References) as after a drawing traditionally attributed to Baldassarre Peruzzi now in the Devonshire Collection, Chatsworth (inv. no. 43). According to the catalogue of drawings in the Chatsworth Collection (see Bibliographic References), the source for this drawing is an engraving by Agostino Veneziano (c.1524-1527). On the basis of the inscription on the print by Marcantonio, which refers to the location of the sarcophagus in St Peter's Basilica, and some differences between the print and the drawing, it is more plausible that there was an intermediary drawing, now probably lost. Other drawings depicting this sarcophagus are known: one by Amico Aspertini (Codex Wolfegg, fols. 35v-36) and one by Giulio Romano (Uffizi, Florence, inv. no. 1491E).