* Desvachez after Raphael: La vierge au livre {1868?} Loc? [PR]

Desvachez, David Joseph (1822-1902; Belgian) after Raphael (1483-1520; Italian)
La vierge au livre [Conestabile Madonna]
Engraving, c.45 x 112 cm
Presented by the Belgian Government, probably 1868
Present location unknown

Raphael’s tiny devotional painting dates from just before the artist moved from Umbria to Florence in 1504. Previously owned by the Conestabile family, Perugia (as noted in the inscription of this engraving), the canvas was acquired in 1870 by Russian Tsar Alexander II for his wife Maria Alexandrova, who bequeathed it to the Hermitage Museum in 1881.

The only mention of this print appears to be in the 1870-71 Annual Report. For other prints donated by the Belgian Government in 1868, see e.g. Unknown after Rubens Descent from the Cross {1868} NGV [PR]. 

[comparative photo: impression in the Christchurch Art Gallery, N.Z.]

Refs.

AR 1870-71, p.34, under Schedule XXXIV: Engravings

For the impression reproduced here, see https://christchurchartgallery.org.nz/collection/73-112/david-joseph-desvachez/la-vierge-au-livre-le-tableau-original-appartient- (accessed 9 Sept.2020)