Raphael, 'The Dream of a Knight', about 1504

The Dream of a Knight

Raphael

Not on display

About the work

Overview

While resting in the shade of a bay tree, the young soldier Scipio has a vision of Virtue and her adversary Pleasure. Virtue promises Scipio honour, fame and glory through victory in war. Pleasure, with fragrant flowing hair, promises a life of ease and serenity.

Raphael interpreted the theme not as a moral dilemma but as a combination of all the virtues to which an ideal soldier should aspire. An Allegory is first recorded in the Borghese collection in Rome in the seventeenth century with Raphael’s The Three Graces (Musée Condé, Chantilly), which is identical in size and style. The combination of the traditionally masculine virtues of courage, learning and love with the traditionally feminine virtues of chastity, beauty and love suggest that the two little paintings may have been made to mark the occasion of a marriage.

In-depth

This painting was inspired by a passage in the Punica, an epic poem by Silius Italicus (AD 25–101) recounting the story of the Second Punic War. This particular scene had never been painted before, and Raphael may have been directed to it by a learned friend or patron. The little square panel is painted with minute attention to detail and a jewel-like finish, reminiscent of a manuscript illustration.

While resting in the shade of a bay tree, the young soldier Scipio has a vision of two ladies, Virtue and her adversary Pleasure. Virtue promises Scipio honour, fame and glory through victory in war. Pleasure, with fragrant flowing hair and beguiling eyes, promises a life of ease and serenity. Virtue on the left is soberly dressed with her hair covered. She offers Scipio a book and a sword, emblems of learning and valour. Pleasure’s dress is hooked up at her hip and her fair hair escapes from her billowing veil as she offers Scipio a sprig of flowers, standing for love. The hard path of virtue is represented by the craggy rock in the background, while Pleasure’s gentle meadows slope down to the shores of a lake.

Silius’s passage was based on the story of Hercules at the crossroads, in which the hero had to choose between the paths of virtue and pleasure. Scipio, like Hercules before him, chose Virtue with her accompanying trials, victories and fame. Raphael would have been familiar with the story of the choice of Hercules since the legend inspired the prologue of his father Giovanni Santi’s epic poem about the life and deeds of Federigo da Montefeltro, Duke of Urbino. Raphael’s father’s version is the only one in which the hero is asleep.

Raphael interpreted the theme not as a moral dilemma but rather as a combination of all the virtues to which an ideal soldier or knight should aspire. The evergreen leaves of the bay tree in the centre of the symmetrical composition symbolise the lasting honour a good knight could hope to win through his military, scholarly and amorous activities. In the cartoon for the painting (British Museum, London) Raphael originally drew Pleasure as a more seductive figure in a low-cut dress. However, in the finished picture she is more modestly dressed, emphasising her role here as the knightly prize, Love.

An Allegory is first recorded in the Borghese collection in Rome in the seventeenth century together with a painting identical in size and style now in the Musée Condé, Chantilly. This shows the Three Graces – Chastity, Beauty and Love – each holding a perfect golden ball. The two paintings were probably conceived as a pair although they were probably not intended to be displayed side by side, as the figures are different sizes. It is likely that either one picture was intended as the cover for the other and they were framed back to back, or that they were kept as treasures in a cloth bag or drawer. The combination of the traditionally masculine virtues of courage, learning and love with the traditionally feminine virtues of chastity, beauty and love suggest that the two little paintings may have been made to mark the occasion of a marriage.

Want to find out more?

Delve deeper and explore the catalogue entry for this painting.

Key facts

Details

Full title: The Dream of a Knight
Artist: Raphael
Artist dates: 1483 - 1520
Date made: about 1504
Medium and support: oil on wood
Dimensions: 17.1 × 17.3 cm
Acquisition credit: Bought, 1847
Inventory number: NG213
Location: Not on display
Collection: Main Collection
Previous owners: Revd Thomas Egerton
Frame: 20th-century Replica Frame

Provenance

In the collection of Cardinal Scipione Borghese (1577-1618) by 1633, and thence by descent to Prince Marcantonio IV Borghese (1730-1800). Bought by William Young Ottley (1771-1836) in December 1798, and offered by him for sale four times in London from 1799 to 1811: Ottley private contract sale, 1799–1800, 31 Margaret Street, Cavendish Square, lot 24; anonymous private contract sale, evidently Ottley, 24 January–25 April 1801, 118 Pall Mall, lot 21 (presumably unsold); Ottley sale, Christie’s, the Great Room, Pall Mall, 16 May, 1801, lot 27, bought in (470 guineas); Ottley sale, 25 March 1811, lot 88, bought in (390 guineas). At some point, sold to Sir Thomas Lawrence (1769-1830), from whose estate acquired by 1833 by Henrietta Villebois, Lady Sykes (1803-1846). By whom bequeathed to the Revd Thomas Egerton (1809-1847), from whom purchased, 1847.

Additional information

Text extracted from the ‘Provenance’ section of the catalogue entry in Carol Plazzotta and Tom Henry, ‘National Gallery Catalogues: The Sixteenth Century Italian Paintings’, vol. 4, ‘Raphael’, London 2022; for further information, see the full catalogue entry.

Exhibition history

2009

Raffaello e Urbino

Palazzo Ducale di Urbino Galleria Nazionale delle Marche

4 April 2009 - 12 July 2009
2013

The Renaissance Dream

Palazzo Pitti

21 May 2013 - 15 September 2013
2016

Painters' Paintings: From Freud to Van Dyck

The National Gallery (London)

23 June 2016 - 4 September 2016
2017

Raphael and the Eloquence of Drawing

Albertina

26 September 2017 - 7 January 2018
2020

Raphael

Scuderie del Quirinale

5 March 2020 - 30 August 2020
2022

The Credit Suisse Exhibition: Raphael

The National Gallery (London)

9 April 2022 - 31 July 2022

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2005

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2022

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Frame

Made at the Gallery in 1987 from yellow pine, this is a reproduction of an early sixteenth-century Italian gilt cassetta frame. Its frieze features an arabesque motif made in pastiglia.

Although its original setting remains unknown, it has been suggested that Raphael’s The Dream of a Knight, along with its pendant, The Three Graces (Musée Condé, Chantilly), may have been framed back to back. Upon arrival at the National Gallery in 1847, the painting was displayed together with Raphael’s cartoon for the work (British Museum, London), in one case under glass. Later, it was set by itself in a gilt frame, placed in a shadow box on green velvet. The painting was reframed for the opening of the new Sainsbury Wing in 1991. The cartoon was reframed in the same style of frame at the same time.

About this record

If you know more about this painting or have spotted an error, please contact us. Please note that exhibition histories are listed from 2009 onwards. Bibliographies may not be complete; more comprehensive information is available in the National Gallery Library.

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