Copy after Raphael’s fresco representing the ‘Deliverance of St Peter from Prison’ in the Stanza di Eliodoro (Vatican Palace, Rome, 1511-12), 1864

The scene illustrates the biblical moment when an angel rescues Saint Peter from imprisonment, as described in the Acts of the Apostles. Chains fall away, guards sleep undisturbed, and divine light guides the apostle toward freedom. The composition emphasizes divine intervention over human effort, reflecting the spiritual authority central to Renaissance religious imagery and its later reinterpretation in the 19th century.

Mariannecci rendered the fresco in watercolour, capturing the tonal range and spatial depth of Raphael’s original with careful washes and precise line work. The technique allowed for subtle gradations of light and shadow, mimicking the fresco’s luminous quality. While faithful to the source, the watercolour medium introduces a softer, more intimate character, distinct from the monumental scale of the Vatican wall painting.

Commissioned by the Arundel Society in 1864, the watercolour was part of a broader initiative to document and disseminate Renaissance masterpieces. After the Society’s dissolution in 1897, it entered the National Gallery’s collection. In 1993, it was transferred to the Victoria and Albert Museum, where it remains as part of a significant archive of 19th-century copies of Italian frescoes, preserving both artistic and historical context.

Raphael’s fresco, painted between 1511 and 1512 in the Stanza di Eliodoro, was one of several commissions by Pope Julius II to glorify the papacy through classical and biblical themes. The Arundel Society’s project in the 1860s responded to a Victorian interest in preserving and studying Italy’s artistic heritage, especially as original works became increasingly inaccessible to the British public.

The watercolour and its chromolithographic reproduction helped circulate Raphael’s imagery beyond Rome, influencing 19th-century artistic education and public taste. As a documented copy, it now serves as a record of how Renaissance works were interpreted and reproduced in the Victorian era, offering insight into the intersection of preservation, reproduction, and cultural transmission.