The School of Athens (left half)

A proof engraving of the left-hand plate of a two-plate print reproducing (with some differences) Raphael's fresco of The School of Athens, painted in c.1509-10 in the Stanza della Segnatura in the Vatican. Stamped with the collector's mark of Peter Lely (Lugt 2092). Annotated in ink at lower right.

The scene is identified on the print as St Paul preaching in Athens, a story told in the Acts of the Apostles (chapter XVII) and summarised in the inscription lettered in the lower left corner. Ghisi adapted the arched fresco to a rectangular format by continuing the architecture in the upper corners. It is one of very few works from the great collection of Sir Peter Lely (dispersed 1688–94) now to be found in the Royal Collection – evidence of how little royal collecting of prints and drawings took place in the decades following the death of Charles II in 1685.

For an impression of the final two-plate engraving, and for further discussion see RCIN 852526.