Bacchus Triumph drawing   

Triumph of Bacchus (1517-1518)

by:   Penni      patron:   d'Este      category: Drawing   

note:  A drawing currently attributed to Penni (although surviving inscriptions also assign it to Polidoro and Peruzzi, respectively: https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/P_1895-0915-582). This scene of The Triumph of Bacchus is purported derived from an original drawing by Raphael (now lost) in preparation for a commission for Duke Alfonso d'Este in 1517 for which he had put up 50 ducats as an advance. A letter dated 4 May 1520 - just weeks after Raphael's death - from Alfonso Paolucci to the Duke imply that Raphael's workshop "se offeriscono servire vostra signoria"; the Duke curtly responded that if he could not have a painting by Raphael's hand that he would prefer his 50 ducats back: "Procurate pur di rihavere li cinquanta ducati da la heredità di Raphael da Urbino, che non havendo noi potuto haver la pictura di sua mano, non la volemo far fare in Roma . . ." (Golzio 1936, p. 123-124; Ferrara 1992, p. 6).