R. Aliventi, L. Da Rin Bettina - Abstract

In 1665, Leopoldo de’ Medici appointed Florentine historian and connoisseur Filippo Baldinucci as curator of his collection of drawings, which constitutes the founding part of the Gabinetto dei Disegni e delle Stampe in the Gallerie degli Uffizi in Florence. Baldinucci was given the task to supervise new purchases and to systematically organize Leopoldo’s vast collection. The drawings were, for the most part, displayed in albums: “Libri Particolari” were monographic volumes devoted to a specific artist, while “Libri Universali” preserved sheets by various authors. This essay offers a new and more exhaustive reconstruction of the “Particolare II”, containing studies by Raphael. Most of the 102 drawings in the book are identified based on a comparative study of different sources dating from the XVIIth to the beginning of the XIXth century: inventories, correspondence, reproductive prints, copy requests, and Karl Morgenstern’s Reise in Italien (1809) – the latter for the first time applied to this subject. This research has allowed us to recognize drawings from the Gabinetto dei Disegni e delle Stampe whose provenance was unknown, as well as to trace a more accurate image of Leopoldo de’ Medici’s idea of Raphael’s draftsmanship.