Bacchus Crowning Ariadne, Circle of Raphael

Circle of Raphael (Urbino 1483 – Rome 1520)
Bacchus Crowning Ariadne

c. 1515 – 1530

Pen and brown ink on cream paper

3.4 × 3.4 cm (1 ? × 1 ? in.)

Provenance
Private collection, England
Private collection, France

This tiny drawing distils, within a few square centimetres, all the linear grace inherited from Raphael. Its perfectly legible contour-line, free of shading, points to a true modello drawn at scale for a cameo, medal or rock-crystal plaquette—exactly the sort of preparatory sheet found in the oeuvre of Valerio Belli, the renowned medallist active in Rome during the 1520s. A Raphaelesque pupil—Polidoro da Caravaggio or Perino del Vaga—remains a plausible hand, as both artists delighted in translating antique reliefs into small, reproducible formats.

Historically, the piece epitomises the creative chain that linked painters, engravers and goldsmiths in the Renaissance: from the stroke of a pen to the luxury object presented at the papal court. It also testifies to the emerging taste for the dessin-bijou—those “graphic jewels” collected by humanists like precious stones on paper. Exceptional in both scale and condition, the drawing offers today’s connoisseur an intimate glimpse into Raphaelesque workshop practice and the flourishing of precious arts in the Cinquecento.