Dorotheum presents a rediscovered Raphael drawing

(Vienna, Austria) – The Old Masters auction at Dorotheum on 25th October 2023, will feature a rediscovered work on paper which has recently been identified as a late drawing by Raffaello Sanzio, called Raphael, the central artist of the High Renaissance.

The sketch, depicting a horse and rider, is one of the few known drawings by Raphael from his late period. The study is especially significant due its role within one of the most ambitious artistic projects of the 16th century: the decoration of the papal apartments in the Vatican. The drawing is a preparatory study for a part of the fresco of the Battle of the Milvian Bridge in the Hall of Constantine. The Stanze, known collectively as the 'Raphael Rooms' are regarded as amongst the most significant achievements of art history.

The drawing, executed in red chalk, provides fresh insight into Raphael's working practice and an auction result in excess of a million euros is expected.

“Compositional and stylistic details confirm that this is a preparatory study by Raphael for the celebrated fresco”, Dorotheum’s Old Master specialist, Mark MacDonnell, says: “It has an energy, a verve, a movement, and a quality which make this sheet an outstanding rarity”.

The present study, a sketch in red chalk, is one of only three surviving drawings for this fresco by the master's hand, the other two being in the Louvre and the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford.

This sheet has been held in private collections and was once previously attributed to Rubens. Now, through comparative analysis of technique and composition, this study of the horse and rider has been recognised to be Raphael’s own work. 

Raphael did not live to see the completion of the fresco as he died in 1520, and his pupil Giulio Romano took over the final painting.

More information

https://www.dorotheum.com/en/p/dorotheum-presents-a-rediscovered-raphael-drawing/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LGUTqbIkiqs