Melpomene
Raphael (after) 1483 - 6 Apr 1520
Summary
A reproduction produced by the Vasari Society of a drawing by Raphael. The drawing shows a woman, drawn in long, curving lines. Her head is turned back so that her face is seen in profile, and her hair is bound up away from her face. She is wearing a long, flowing dress with folds of material gathered at the back. Her right arm and shoulder is bare, and her left hand is raised to her chest. Text from the accompanying booklet produced by the Vasari Society: "7. RAPHAEL (b. 1483; d. 1520) MELPOMENE Ashmolean Museum, Oxford. Presented to the University by a Body of Subscribers, 1846. From the Ottley and Lawrence Collections. Pen and bistre. 33 x 21.9 cm. (13 x 8 5/8 in.). Verso: a study for Virgil, also in pen and bistre. Study for the figure of Melpomene in the Parnassus. It differs from the fresco in that the head is turned back and seen in profile to the left, as in Marcantonio’s engraving: otherwise it corresponds with the fresco and not with the engraving. The drawing in its grace and movement gives one the impression of a floating Victory from a triumphal arch. A. E. P. [W. Y. Ottley, The Italian School of Design, p. 52, facsimile by G. Lewis; Eugène Muntz, Raphael, 1886, p. 355, reproduction; Robinson, Critical Account, p. 200, No. 69.]"
Object Name
Melpomene
Creators Name
Date Created
1923
accession number
1923.990
Collection Group
Place of creation
Europe
Medium