Vatican Frescoes
Study for the figure of a Muse
c.1853-76Albumen print | RCIN 852494
A photograph of a drawing currently in the Gabinetto Disegni e Stampe degli Uffizi, Florence (inv. no.1220E r), copy of a study by Raphael (c.1510) now in the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford (inv. no.WA1846.182r; see RCIN 852491 for a photograph of it). According to Ruland (1876), the Uffizi drawing once belonged to Nicolas Poussin.
The original by Raphael 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 it) 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.
The original by Raphael 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 it) 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.
- Acquired for the Prince Consort's Raphael Collection (c.1853-76)
