[Various sketches: four figures and a horse on recto and two partial figures on verso]

These drawings were found mostly in the collection of Carlo Prayer (1826-1900), a Milanese collector whose works were dispersed after 1880. Comparison of the Library of Congress sheet with these drawings indicates the same hand at work. Further proof that this drawing belongs to the group is the inscription "P/223" on the verso. Many of these drawings carry numbers in the same handwriting on the verso preceded by the same "P/" and were probably part of a sketchbook, as suggested by Oberhuber (p. 195, under cat. no. 51). One of the drawings, in Berlin, must have preceded this work by one drawing as it is numbered P/221. Oberhuber dates the Berlin drawing ca. 1503-1505, a date that also works stylistically for this drawing. There is no influence of Marcantonio's later relationship with Raphael, which indicates these drawings are all earlier than his Roman years. The figures in the drawing are not found in other sheets by the artist and, in general, do not conform to any of his prints, although the prancing horse on the recto does relate to the stance of the horse in Marcantonio's print of the statue of Marcus Aurelius (dated ca. 1506 by Oberhuber: Faietti and Oberhuber 1988, pp. 134-136, cat. no 34 [Bartsch 514]). The seated figure at right is very close, in reverse, to one in the Musèe Bonnat (Faietti and Oberhuber, p. 55, fig. 1). Certainly, the mis-en-page is identical to his other sheets, with groups of figures together and sketches of single figures nearby. Without further comparisons, the subject of the group at left on the recto remains a mystery.
Inscriptions: Verso: "P/223" in black chalk or graphite,upper right; "1587/de-is" lower left in graphite; "571" lower left in graphite.
Collection marks on recto of Carlo Prayer (Lugt 2044) and G. Vallardi (Lugt 1223). Collection mark on verso, lower left, of George Lothrop Bradley (Lugt suppl. 288b) and lower right of G. Vallardi (Lugt 1223).
George Lothrop Bradley Collection.
Title, attribution, date, subject, and physical description by Diane de Grazia, 2014.
Bequest; George Lothrop Bradley; 1919.
This drawing is not by Fra Bartolommeo (1472-1517), as originally catalogued, but instead by the artist Marcantonio Raimondi, whose authorship had also been suggested. The attribution to Fra Bartolommeo was probably based on the similarity of drapery folds and sketch-like quality of the artist's mis en page. However, authentic pen and ink drawings by Fra Bartolommeo exhibit a greater freedom, more volume, and less static quality to the figures (for comparisons see, e.g., Chris Fischer. Fra Bartolommeo. Master Draughtsman of the High Renaissance, exh. cat., Museum Boymans-van Beuningen, Rotterdam, 1990-1991). The style of this sheet shares with Marcantonio Raimondi the hesitant outlines of figures with minimum shading and a similar figure type (thin hips and skinny legs) as well as the interest in classical poses. His early works also have the same simple hatching and broken outlines. In fact, a group of drawings in the Musée Bonnat in Bayonne (see Jacob Bean, Dessins italiens de la collection Bonnat, Paris, 1960, cat. nos. 225-237 as north Italian school), the Kupferstichkabinett in Berlin, and elsewhere, to which this sheet belongs, has been attributed convincingly by Konrad Oberhuber to Marcantonio (see Konrad Oberhuber. Marcantonio Raimondi: gli inizi a Bologna ed il primo periodo romano in Marzia Faietti and Konrad Oberhuber, eds. Bologna e l'Umanesimo 1490-1510, exh. cat. Pinacoteca Nazionale, Bologna, and Graphisches Sammlung Albertina, Vienna, 1988 pp. 51-88 and cat. nos. 51, 53 and 54).
Conservation: 8.84.230.2 and 8.84.144.2.