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.

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Vatican Frescoes

Vatican Frescoes

    Study for a figure of a muse

    c.1853-76

    Albumen print | RCIN 852487

    A photograph of a drawing by Raphael (c.1510) now in the Albertina, Vienna (inv. no.219r). The drawing is a study for the figure of the muse seated to the left of Apollo in Raphael's fresco of Parnassus, painted in c.1510-11 in the Stanza della Segnatura, Vatican. Because in the fresco the figure is depicted holding a flute, it has been suggested that she may be Euterpe, the muse ruling over music.
    • Acquired for the Prince Consort's Raphael Collection (c.1853-76)

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