The frescoes in the Vatican Palace commissioned by Popes Julius II and Leo X
After Raphael (Urbino 1483-Rome 1520)
Study for the figure of a Muse c.1853-76
Albumen print | 33.2 x 22.4 cm (sheet of paper) | RCIN 852491
A photograph of a drawing by Raphael (c.1510) now in the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford (inv. no.P WA1846.182r). The drawing is an early preparatory study for the figure of the third standing muse to the left of Apollo in Raphael's fresco of Parnassus, painted in c.1510-11 in the Stanza della Segnatura, Vatican. In the fresco the figure was modified and the face was turned to the right. An engraving by Marcantonio Raimondi (RCIN 852473) and a drawing in the Ashmolean Museum (inv. no.WA1846.272; see RCIN 852475 for a photograph of the drawing) record early versions of the Parnassus composition, both of which show the muse as in the photographed drawing. The figure is generally identified as Melpomene, the muse ruling over tragedy.
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Creator(s)
After Raphael (Urbino 1483-Rome 1520) (artist)
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33.2 x 22.4 cm (sheet of paper)
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Acquired for the Prince Consort's Raphael Collection (c.1853-76)
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Object type(s)
- visual works
- photographs
Subject(s)
- Religion & Theology
- Religions and faiths
- Religions of antiquity
- Classical mythology
- Muses
- Classical mythology
- Religions of antiquity
- Religions and faiths
- Places
- Europe
- Greece
- Mount Parnassus [Greece]
- Greece
- Europe
- visual works
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Other number(s)
Ruland p.187 C.I.76
Bibliographic reference(s)
Joannides 1983 : Joannides, P., 1983. The Drawings of Raphael, with a complete catalogue, Oxford p.192, no.238v
In Partnership with
The aims of The Royal Collection Trust are the care and conservation of the Royal Collection, and the promotion of access and enjoyment through exhibitions, publications, loans and educational activities.