This website presents our knowledge and research on this important aspect of the Royal Collection. As of April 2026 it will not be regularly updated and new research on this topic will sit within the main website.

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Vatican Frescoes

Vatican Frescoes

      ADAM VON BARTSCH (1757-1821)

      Study for the figure of Dante

      dated 1787

      Etching | 40.4 x 24.3 cm (sheet of paper) | RCIN 852482

      A facsimile of a drawing now in the Albertina, Vienna (inv. no.241). Lettered with former attribution to Raphael, provenance of the work (collection of Prince du Ligne) and name of the etcher. Dated at lower right.

      The drawing is an early copy of a double-sided study sheet by Raphael currently in the Royal Library at Windsor Castle (RCIN 912760v), preparatory for the figure of Dante in the fresco of Parnassus, painted in c.1510-11 in the Stanza della Segnatura, Vatican. The Albertina copy combines the head of Dante drawn on the recto of the Windsor sheet with his drapery sketched on the verso.

      Ruland (1876) catalogued the drawing as an original study by Raphael for the entire figure of Dante.

      • Creator(s)

        Adam von Bartsch (1757-1821) (etcher)

        After a work copying Raphael (1483-1520) (artist)

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

        Subject(s)

        Dante Alighieri (1265-1321)

      • 40.4 x 24.3 cm (sheet of paper)

        35.0 x 17.2 cm (platemark)

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

      • Subject(s)
        • People
          • Poets
        • Places
          • Europe
            • Mount Parnassus [Greece]
        • Geography
          • Physiography
            • Mountains
        Object type(s)
          • visual works
            • prints
      • Bibliographic reference(s)

        Clayton 1999 : Clayton, M. Raphael and his Circle. Drawings from Windsor Castle, London p.76, under no.18v

        Other number(s)

        Ruland p.186 C.I.67

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