Case Studies

Here the attribution of several of Raphael’s paintings is looked at using all the information available currently and the questions that have arisen in the past are analysed: generally these can be focussed upon the role of Raphael in their execution, from preliminary drawings, small and fuller studies, cartoonsCartoon, and his input to the design and composition of the final painting. The major critique of connoisseurs seems to be related to the attribution and classification of a painting in a category between the extremes of an “autograph” (100% painted by Raphael) to Raphaelesque or “after Raphael”, where he had no input whatsoever. The most difficult to judge is the “Raphael Workshop” category where Raphael may have undertaken some preliminary work on the painting and then left it to his assistants to complete. The adoption of the AI artificial intelligenceArtificial Intelligence (AI) programme for the first time gives a quantitative assessment of what part of the painting was completed by Raphael or an assistant in his workshop. These case studies reflect these ideas will stimulate further discussion of connoisseurial opinion differences on a more scientific basis’.