Workshop Of Raffaello Sanzio, Known As Raphael (urbino 1483 – Rome 1520) - Holy Family

(Urbino 1483 – Rome 1520)

Title The Holy Family with the Infant Saint John the Baptist
Medium Pen and brown ink, brown wash, over black chalk
Dimensions 19.2 × 27.5 cm
Inscription Lower left, “del Sarto”

Tondo, Cava de’ Tirreni, after drawings by Raphael and probably executed by Gian Francesco Penni, pupil of Raphael.

Technique and Style
The sheet, executed in pen and partially shaded with brown wash, typifies the draftsmanship of artists active in Raphael’s studio. It demonstrates both the importance of drawing within the workshop and the creation of repertories of motifs later reused in painting. Pen-and-ink, combining flexibility with precision, allowed the draughtsman to pursue a heightened realism in rendering drapery-clad figures. The even pen-lines and the sparing, delicate wash are hallmarks of Raphael’s graphic circle.

Attribution and Workshop Context
This drawing is a valuable witness to the creative process in the Master of Urbino’s workshop: it translates a Raphaelesque design through the hand of Penni. One of Raphael’s earliest pupils, Gianfrancesco Penni (nicknamed Il Fattore after entering the atelier in 1511), chiefly executed the master’s designs for frescoes and panel paintings. Vasari notes that Penni specialised in producing finished drawings after Raphael’s inventions, complicating efforts to reconstruct his own oeuvre. Nonetheless, a coherent group of sheets from the workshop shares features that allow attribution to Penni and clarify his assimilation of Raphael’s graphic precepts.

Comparative Material

• Oxford, Ashmolean Museum (inv. WA1940.68; RCIN 851309) – preparatory study for the Cava de’ Tirreni tondo, generally attributed to Penni.

• Florence, Uffizi, Gabinetto Disegni e Stampe (inv. 10899F; RCIN 851311) – another copy of the composition.

• Rome, Galleria Borghese (inv. 464) – vertical painted version, usually given to Raphael’s school (Penni or Perino del Vaga ?).

• A variant with additional figures and a different pose for Saint Joseph was recorded by Ruland (1876) in the late Major Kühl en collection, Rome; possibly identical with the drawing sold at Lempertz, Cologne, 12 Dec 1991, lot 483 (RCIN 851308, Royal Collection Trust, Windsor).

Visual and Thematic Analysis
Subtle and obvious divergences between the modello and the finished painting suggest that Raphael provided studies rather than full-scale cartoons. Foreground figures are developed in pen and ink over initial black-chalk sketches. What distinguishes this sheet is the way soft outlines, shifting contrapposti and interactive gestures bind the individual figures into a frieze-like Holy Family. Raphael transforms the mother-and-child theme into an earthly moment of tenderness; the Virgin’s poise and grace recall his spirit, though she appears less robust than many of his female types. Penni’s rendition invariably confirms his master’s forms, and their combined influence yields a composition of pronounced balance.

Without slavish copying, the poses draw inspiration from Raphael’s models, and the entire conception follows the same aesthetic: identical stylistic purity and the familiar physical types of the Virgin, Saint Joseph, the Child and Saint John the Baptist.