- Museum number
- 1963,1216.1
- Description
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The Entombment
Pen and brown ink
Verso: A burial scene with a man laying a body next to two others; three putti
Pen and brown ink
- Production date
- 1507 (circa)
- Dimensions
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Height: 213 millimetres
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Width: 319 millimetres
- $Inscriptions
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- Curator's comments
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Another preparatory study for the Baglione 'Entombment' of 1507 (L. Dussler, 'Raphael: a Critical Catalogue, pp. 23-4, pl. 67; Meyer zur Capellen, 2001, no. 31, pp. 233-46; also see BM 1895,0915.636, 1895,0915.617 and 1855,0214.1). In earlier studies, Raphael was preparing to paint a 'Lamentation', but this drawing represents the change in subject to the 'Entombment'. Pope-Hennessy eloquently explains the move away from the passive Peruginesque 'Lamentation' to the more active 'Entombment' illustrates the influence of Florentine art on Raphael, especially that of Michelangelo and his fabled cartoon for the 'Battle of Cascina' (executed c. 1504, now lost).
On the recto of this sheet, the figures carry or are grouped around the rigid body of Christ. A drawing in the Ashmolean (K.T. Parker, 'Catalogue of the Collection of Drawings in the Ashmolean Museum', vol. II, Italian Schools, Oxford, 1956, cat. 539; Joannides, no. 132) demonstrates the influence of Antique sarcophagi depicting the 'Death of Meleager' on this composition (see Gere and Turner, cat. 75). In addition, as Turner points out (1996, p. 47), Raphael also seems to have been studying Mantegna's engraving of the 'Entombment'. Gere and Turner assert that the present drawing is the first of the studies for an 'Entombment' while Joannides suggests another drawing in the Ashmolean (Parker, 531; Joannides, no. 129) immediately precedes it. Significantly, the body of Christ is much more rigid than in subsequent studies or the finished painting and the figure who holds His feet faces the viewer, whereas in the painting he is turned the other way. For an analysis of the incised points of scale on the lower left edge see Kang and Kemp's essay in the 2006 Villa Borghese catalogue.
The figure on the right who holds the feet of Christ is directly inspired by Michelangelo's 'Saint Matthew', the only one of the twelve marble Apostles commissioned in 1503 from Michelangelo by the Florentine Opera del Duomo to be even partly completed (now Galleria dell'Accademia, Florence. See C. de Tolnay, 'Michelangelo. I. Youth: The Youth of Michelangelo', Princeton, 1943, plate 63). The verso of another drawing in the collection, 1855-2-14-1, is Raphael's drawing from Michelangelo's unfinished sculpture which would have been used as a study for the figure holding Christ's feet.
On the verso, there are drawings of putti and of corpses wound in shrouds, both lying on the ground and, at the top, being laid down by a man who hunches over the body. The two reclining corpses are viewed from different angles, the bottom one with the head on the right and the top one with the head on the left. All demonstrate what must have been life studies (or in this case death studies) by Raphael. The putti were later engraved by Caylus in 1979 for the Crozat collection. Gere and Turner suggest that these putti could have been a study for the children at the foot of the throne in the 'Madonna del Baldacchino' (Florence, Galleria Palatina, Palazzo Pitti; Dussler, p. 26, pl. 63; Meyer zur Capellen, 2001, no. 40, pp. 276-81) which was painted at a similar time to the 'Entombment'.
Watermark: a crowned eagle
Note: This drawing was acquired by the museum after the publication of Pouncey and Gere. It has been given the catalogue number 11a to correspond to where it would have fit into their text.
Lit: J. Pope-Hennessy, 'Raphael', New York, 1971, pp. 53-57, fig. 43; J-P. Cuzin, 'Raphaël: Vie et l'oeuvre', Fribourg, 1983, nos. 65, 66, pp. 66-6; J.A. Gere and N. Turner in exh. cat. BM, 'Drawings by Raphael', 1983, no. 77; P. Joannides, 'The Drawings of Raphael', Oxford, 1983, no. 130; J.A. Gere and P. Pouncey, 'Italian drawings in the BM, Artists working in Rome', London, 1983, no. 361 (with previous literature); E. Knab, E. Mitsch and K. Oberhuber, 'Raphael Die Zeichnungen', Stuttgart, 1983, no. 196; N. Turner in exh. cat. BM, 'Florentine Drawings in the sixteenth century', London, 1986, no. 22; J.A. Gere in exh. cat. New York, Pierpont Morgan Library, 'Drawings by Raphael and his Circle', 1987, no. 11; N. Turner, 'Italian Drawings in the BM, Roman Baroque Drawings', London, 1999, I, no. 80; J. Meyer zur Capellen, 'Raphael in Florence', London, 1996, p. 215; J. Meyer zur Capellen, 'Raphael. The Paintings. Vol. I, The Beginning in Umbria and Florence, ca. 1500-1508', Landshut, 2001, no. 31 A/I.7, pp. 236-240 (with a list of other preparatory studies for the painting); H. Chapman, in exh. cat. (by H. Chapman, T. Henry. C. Plazzotta et al), London, National Gallery, 'Raphael: from Urbino to Rome', 2004, no. 70; E.-S. Kang and M. Kemp, 'Costruire la composizione' in exhib. cat. (A. Coliva ed.), Rome, Villa Borghese, 'Raffaello da Firenze a Roma', 2006, p. 84, fig. 5
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Gere & Pouncey 1983
This is the study for the Borghese 'Entombment' formerly in the Crozat Collection, referred to as 'lost' in BM Raphael (under no. 12). Though the 'Lamentation' for which there are studies in the Louvre and the Ashmolean was no doubt the germ of the 'Entombment' composition, 1963,1216.1 recto is the earliest known surviving drawing that can beyond question be connected with it. It precedes BM Raphael 12 and the larger-scale and more highly finished squared study for the principal group in the Uffizi, which comes very close to the final version.
The problems of the 'Entombment' were evidently in Raphael's mind when he drew the verso sketches of corpses in winding-sheets, one of them carried with obvious effort by a stooping man. They reveal an uncompromising realism surprising in him at this early date.
Fischel, who knew the group of three children on the verso out of context only from Caylus's reversed facsimile of this detail, connected it with the group of child-angels on the entablature in the l. foreground of the early study for the 'Disputa' at Windsor (Fischel 258). This suggestion is not convincing. The children in the drawing are sitting on a ledge or step impossible to envisage as part of the architectural structure in the 'Disputa' study. The group can, on the other hand, be readily imagined at the foot of the Virgin's throne in an altarpiece. This could be a first idea for the similar motif in the 'Madonna del Baldacchino', a work of almost exactly the same date as the 'Entombment', in which two naked child-angels are standing in front of the high-stepped throne.
Literature: G.F. Waagen, Treasures of Art in Great Britain, 1854, ii, p. 80; J.D. Passavant, Raphaël d'Urbin, Paris, 1860, ii, pp. 60 and 496, no. 453; J.C. Robinson, The Drawings of Michel Angelo and Raffaello in the University Galleries, Oxford, Oxford, 1870, pp. 156f.; C. Ruland, The Works of Raphael... as represented in the Raphael Collection ...at Windsor Castle, 1876, p. 22, no. 24; J.A. Crowe and G.B. Cavalcaselle, Raphael, his Life and Works, 1882, i, pp. 310f.; O. Fischel, Raphaels Zeichnungen. Versuch einer Kritik, 1898, no. 89; Raphaels Zeichnungen, 1913 onwards, no. 170 [recto) and p. 293 (verso); I.A. Richter, Gazette, period 6, xxviii (1945), p. 345; L. Ferrara, S. Staccioli and A.M. Tantillo, Storia e restauro della Deposizione di Raffaello, Rome, 1972-3, p. 22.
- Location
- Not on display
- Exhibition history
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1964, BM, Recent Acquisitions, no.3
1983, BM, 'Drawings by Raphael', no. 77
1986, BM, Florentine Drawings 16thC, no.22
1987-1988 Oct-Jan, New York, Pierpont Morgan Library, 'Raphael', no. 11
1994, BM, 'The Study of Italian Drawings', no.80
2004-2005 Oct-Jan, London, National Gallery, 'Raphael: From Urbino to Rome'
- Previous owner
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Previous owner/ex-collection: Antaldi (L.2445, nos. 27-28 in Antaldi inventory)
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Previous owner/ex-collection: Pierre Crozat (sale, Paris, 10.iv.1741/109 bt Noury)
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Previous owner/ex-collection: M Nourri (sale, Paris, 24.ii.1785/266 bt J. de Parme 390 livres)
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Previous owner/ex-collection: Julien de Parme (sale, Paris, 21.ii 1794/ lot 22)
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Previous owner/ex-collection: Anonymous (Anon. sale. T. Philipe, London, 25.iv.1801/106 bt Hibbert £46-4-0)
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Previous owner/ex-collection: George Hibbert (Christie's, London, 12.vi.1833/174 'Raffaelle: Figures carrying the dead body of Christ, pen; the celebrated Crozat drawing' bt Rogers £105)
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Previous owner/ex-collection: Samuel Rogers (Christie's, London, 6.v.1856/951 bt Mr Moore of Agnews £462)
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Previous owner/ex-collection: Thomas Birchall
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Previous owner/ex-collection: Richard Rainshaw Rothwell
- Acquisition date
- 1963
- Acquisition notes
- The drawing was rediscovered amid great excitement and the BM bid at the Sotheby sale up to £20,000. It was sold for £27,000 and bought by Colnaghi acting for the Metropolitan Museum, New York. It was subsequently export-stopped and acquired by the BM.
When in the Rogers sale, Lord Hertford wrote to his agent Mawson in amazement at the price: 'Only think of the Raffaelle drawing selling for 462? enormous - I am very glad I don't dabble in drawings as well as in other articles that sell rather dear.' (see John Ingamells (ed.) 'The Hertford Mawson Letters', London 1981, p.83).
Exhibited in Manchester in 1857 as from T. Birchall's collection.
Crowe and Cavalcaselle prophetically but confusingly describe 1963,1216.1 as being in the British Museum. It is certainly this drawing that they are discussing, since they describe in detail the verso sketches. Robinson's reference to it as being in the collection of C.S. Bale is due to confusion with BM Raphael 10 - a study for the 'Lamentation' out of which the Borghese 'Entombment' developed -which was in the Bale Collection.
The drawing passed from Birchall to his nephew, F R Rothwell, and stayed in the family until 1963. See Jacob Bean, 'A Rediscovered Drawing by Raphael', Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin, New Series Vol 23, No 1.
- Department
- Prints and Drawings
- Registration number
- 1963,1216.1