The School of Athens (left half)

This is a proof impression of one plate of Ghisi's print of the School of Athens, frescoed by Raphael in the Stanza della Segnatura of the Vatican. Ghisi adapted the arched fresco to a rectangular format by continuing the architecture in the upper corners. It is one of very few works from the great collection of Sir Peter Lely (dispersed 1688–94) now to be found in the Royal Collection – evidence of how little royal collecting of prints and drawings took place in the decades following the death of Charles II in 1685.