Viene attribuito a Raffaellino da Reggio il disegno inedito raffigurante "Il Profeta Isaia con putto", identificato dall’autore come studio preparatorio dell’affresco eseguito dal pittore reggiano per la Cappella Ghislieri (o del Presepe) in San Silvestro al Quirinale a Roma.
Per la prima volta vengono pubblicati tutti insieme i disegni di Raffaellino fino ad oggi conosciuti, preparatori per la decorazione di questa cappella, che hanno permesso un’attenta analisi dello stile grafico dell’artista.
Il raffinato disegno della collezione The Pierpont Morgan Library di New York, preparatorio per l’Apparizione dell’Angelo a San Giuseppe nella stessa cappella a San Silvestro al Quirinale, ha messo in rilievo importanti elementi tecnici e stilistici impiegati da Raffaellino per la realizzazione di questi affreschi, come l’uso dell’acquerello scuro per le ombreggiature e i forti contrasti di luce ed ombra che evidenziano un linguaggio stilistico maturo e mostrano i caratteri dell’ultimo periodo dell’attività del pittore. Questi affreschi risultano tra i più importanti lavori dell’artista e vanno collocati cronologicamente fra le ultime opere realizzate da Raffaellino, poco prima della sua prematura scomparsa avvenuta nel 1578.

An unpublished drawing of Raffaellino da Reggio

An unpublished drawing depicting the prophet Isaiah with a putto was ascribed by the author to Raffaellino da Reggio and has led to identify it as a preparatory study for the fresco painted by the artist for the Ghislieri chapel, also known as Cappella del Presepe, in the church of San Silvestro al Quirinale in Rome. Those frescoes are among the most important works of Raffaellino.
For the first time, all the preparatory drawings of Raffaellino da Reggio for the Cappella del Presepe, known until today, have been published together and compared in order to study his stylistic development and finally to establish a date for the works in San Silvestro al Quirinale, even through a careful analysis of the biographical sources, especially Van Mander (1604), Fantini (1616), Baglione (1642) and the contemporary documentation.
The study of the drawings has revealed a mature style, in which the Emilian painting culture, learnt from his first maestro Lelio Orsi, was fused with the Manieristic experiences of Raffaellino’s last period of activity in Rome; his early dependence on Federico Zuccaro’s models gave way to much freer forms.
That was also outlined in the comparison with the attractive and fascinating drawing ‘The Apparition of the Angel to Saint Joseph’ in The Pierpont Morgan Library in New York, preparatory for the fresco in the same chapel by Raffaellino, showing important technical and stylistic elements, as well as a strong contrast of light and shadow and more elongated physical traits and proportions, bearing all the marked characteristics of the late phase of his activity.
On these grounds, the author places Raffaellino’s frescoes in the Cappella del Presepe in San Silvestro al Quirinale among his last works, before the violent fever (May 1577) that led him to premature death the next year, when he was only twenty eight years old.