Angel Playing a Rebec
by RAFFAELLO Sanzio, Silverpoint, heightened with white, on grey ground, 191 x 127 mm
This silverpoint study of an apprentice was made for the angels playing music in the Oddi Altarpiece. Drawing figure and motion studies of workshop apprentices (garzoni) became a common practice among Florentine artists from the end of the fifteenth century, and reached Urbino through Perugia’s example.
The rebec is a bowed stringed instrument of the Medieval era and Renaissance era. In its most common form, it has a narrow boat-shaped body and 1-5 strings. It was definitely an instrument of the lower classes, not the court.