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Vatican Frescoes

Vatican Frescoes

AFTER A WORK PREVIOUSLY ATTRIBUTED TO RAPHAEL (URBINO 1483-ROME 1520)

The Mass at Bolsena

published 1798

Etching and lavis | 37.1 x 46.1 cm (sheet of paper) | RCIN 852710

A facsmile (in reverse) of a drawing now in the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford (inv. no.WA1846.273). Lettered with attribution to Raphael and former location of the work (Champernowne Collection). Published in C.M. Metz, 'Imitations of Ancient and Modern Drawings', London 1798.

The drawing is thought to record an alternative design for the fresco of the 'The Mass at Bolsena', painted by Raphael between 1511 and 1512 in the Stanza di Eliodoro in the Vatican. Formerly reputed to be by Raphael himself, the drawing is now generally regarded as a copy (sometimes attributed to Gianfrancesco Penni) after a lost original by the artist.

It has also been suggested that the drawing may be a free variation of the final composition of the fresco. Two other drawings of this subject (although inferior in execution) survive in the Ashmolean Museum (inv. nos.WA1846.274, WA1846.275; photographs at RCINs 852711, 852712). For further discussion, see Bibliographic References.
  • Creator(s)

    After a work previously attributed to Raphael (Urbino 1483-Rome 1520) (artist)

  • 37.1 x 46.1 cm (sheet of paper)
    35.5 x 44.4 cm (platemark)

  • Added to the Prince Consort's Raphael Collection (c.1853-76)

  • Subject(s)
    • Arts, Recreation, Entertainment & Sport
      • Music
        • Religious music
          • Liturgical music
            • Masses
    • Science, Medicine and Technology
      • Medical sciences
        • Anatomy
          • Blood
  • Bibliographic reference(s)

    p.401, no.F 9.3 (Höper 2001 : Höper, C. Raffael und die Folgen, Hatje Cantz Verlag, 2001)