- Museum number
- Pp,1.67
- Description
-
Head and right forearm and hand holding a violin bow
Metalpoint on grey prepared paper
- Production date
- 1503 (circa)
- Dimensions
-
Height: 275 millimetres
-
Width: 197 millimetres
- Curator's comments
- The head and hand on the recto are studies for the angel in the upper right of the 'Coronation of the Virgin' now in the Vatican Museum (Dussler, p. 10, pl. 29; Meyer zur Capellen, 2001, no. 8, pp. 128-37) The 'Coronation' was commissioned by Alessandra di Simone degli Oddi for the Oddi Chapel in San Francesco al Prato, Perugia (for recent discussion of the altarpiece, see D. Cooper, 'Raphael's altar-pieces in S. Francesco al Prato, Perugia: patronage, setting and function' in 'The Burlington Magazine', CXLIII, pp. 554-561). The painting is not dated, but is generally agreed to have been executed at the end of the artist's Umbrian period, probably in 1503. Numerous studies for the composition survive, including a modello in the Museum of Fine Arts, Budapest (inv. 1779; Joannides, no. 38) which demonstrates that Raphael's first idea for the altarpiece was an 'Assumption of the Virgin' rather than a 'Coronation' (See BM 1895-9-15-610 and 1947-10-11-19 and Joannides cat. nos. 38 to 55 for other drawings related to the 'Coronation').
The present drawing demonstrates Rapahel's finesse with metalpoint. The curving strokes of hair and diagonal lines of hatching in the head are economical, yet expressive. The separate study of the hand conveys the elegance of the painted angel. Fischel speculated that this sheet was part of what he called Raphael's 'Larger Umbrian Silverpoint Sketchbook', a group of drawings made in metalpoint on grey ground. These drawings do hang together as a cohesive group in medium and style and were undoubtedly conceived in the period after Raphael had left Perugino's shop and before he arrived in Florence.
On the verso, there is a perspective study ruled onto the paper with stylus and a compass. The perspectival diagram studied in this exercise is, as Juliana Kang suggests, perhaps related to the 'Annunciation' predella for the 'Coronation of the Virgin' altarpiece of 1503-4. Kang's provides the best analysis of the diagram in her paper given in Frankfurt and published in 2015.
Lit.: J.D. Passavant, 'Tour of a German Artist in England', London, 1836, (translation from the original German ed. published in Frankfurt, 1833), II, pp. 99-100; P. Pouncey and J.A. Gere, 'Italian Drawings in the BM: Raphael and his Circle', London, 1962, no. 4 (with previous literature); L. Dussler, 'Raphael: a Critical Catalogue', London, 1971, p. 10; M. Clarke and N. Penny, in exhib. cat., Manchester, Whitworth Art Gallery , 'The arrogant connoisseur: Richard Payne Knight 1751-1824', 1982, no. 155; J.A. Gere and N. Turner in exh. cat. BM, 'Drawings by Raphael', 1983, no. 22; P. Joannides, 'The Drawings of Raphael', Oxford, 1983, pl. 5, pp. 42-43, no. 44; E. Knab, E. Mitsch and K. Oberhuber, 'Raphael Die Zeichnungen', Stuttgart, 1983, no. 40; F. Ames-Lewis, 'The Draftsman Raphael', New Haven and London, 1986, p. 33, fig. 34; J. Meyer zur Capellen, 'Raphael. The Paintings. Vol. I, The Beginning in Umbria and Florence, ca. 1500-1508', Landshut, 2001, no. 8 A/I.12, pp. 130, 133; E.-S.J. Kang, 'Achieving Proportion and Balance: An Early Stage in Raphael's Design Process', in J. Jacoby (ed.), 'Raffael als Zeichner (Raphael as Draughtsman), Die Beiträge des Frankfurter Kolloquiums', Frankfurt, 2015, pp. 93-6, fig. 5
This drawing was issued as a coloured facsimile by the British Museum in 'Reproductions of Drawings by Old Masters in the British Museum', Part II, Published by the Trustees, in 1891, where it was number VI and described there as 'Raffaello Sanzio (Raphael), Study for the Head and Hands of an Angel.'
- Location
- Not on display
- Exhibition history
-
1962/3 Nov-Sep, BM, Raphael and his Circle (P+G)
1982 Jan-Apr, Manchester, Whitworth AG, 'Payne Knight', no. 155
1983, BM, 'Drawings by Raphael', no. 22
1984, BM, 'Master Drawings and Watercolours in the British Museum', no. 11
1992 April-June, Stockholm, Nationalmuseum, 'Rafael Teckningar', no. 17
1995 Jan-Mar, Southampton Gallery, 'Drawing the Line', no. 170
2020-2021, 7 Dec - 28 March, Raphael's Line, State Hermitage Museum, St Petersburg
- Acquisition date
- 1824
- Acquisition notes
- Ottley bought part of Wicar's collection.
- Department
- Prints and Drawings
- Registration number
- Pp,1.67