Pasquale Romanelli 1812-1887 Raphael with his muse Fornarina circa 1875

Romanelli trained and worked in Florence, first with Luigi Pampaloni and subsequently with Lorenzo Bartolini (1777-1850), the most distinguished Tuscan Neoclassical sculptor, whose studio he inherited.  Romanelli may have been inspired to depict Raphael and Fornarina after having heard about Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres's painting of the same subject, for Ingres was a close friend of Lorenzo Bartolini and during his stay in Florence between 1820 and 1824, Bartolini had introduced him to Florentine cinquecento and seicento art.

As in Ingres's painting (Columbus Museum of Art, Ohio), Raphael is depicted in his smock with his paintbrushes and arm wrapped around his muse, in a restrained yet sensual embrace.  Raphael is shown leaning against the easel where his La Fornarina has been sketched, prior to the paint being applied.  The premise of this sculpture is identical.  Romanelli has depicted Raphael in front of an imaginary easel, at the moment he asks Fornarina to bare herself for a final sitting.  Raphael is thus shown tenderly loosening her robes.  Romanelli would have been familiar with Raphael's original painting of 1520 which shows her bare-breasted (Galleria Borghese).

Romanelli achieved an international reputation for his finely carved mythological, historical, and monumental figures.  His sons Raffaello and Romano continued his legacy which lives on to the present day; the Romanelli studio, now a private museum, remains a rare survival in Florence.

Another example, sold, Sotheby's, London, July 8, 2003, lot 220 (£30,000).