The Expulsion from Paradise

A photograph of a drawing in the Royal Collection (RCIN 912729) catalogued by Ruland (1876) as 'perhaps by Perino del Vaga' but now generally attributed to Gianfrancesco Penni (c.1516-18). The drawing is a study for the fresco of the 'Expulsion from Paradise' painted by the workshop of Raphael (c.1517-19) in the vault of the second bay of the Raphael Loggia in the Vatican. The drawing is squared and probably served as the modello, the final compositional drawing ready for enlargement to a full-scale cartoon.

Originally executed in pen and ink with bistre wash and heightened with white, the drawing was damaged in the nineteenth century after cleaning, revealing an underdrawing in black chalk. Although Ruland states in his catalogue (1876) that this underdrawing was by 'Raphael's own hand', it is currently attributed to Penni. For further information, see Bibliographic References. This photograph is of the original drawing before cleaning; for a photograph of the drawing after cleaning, see RCIN 853380. For the original drawing, see RCIN 912729