Description: Vertical fold in center, stains and worn spots all over the surface

The drawing is reproduced in an engraving by Gisberg van Veen 'after Raphael' 1589. It is entitled "Quatour anni tempora", the four female figures are thus interpreted as the Horae. Oberhuber has suggested "The departure for Cythere", and he connects it stylistically with three other drawings in the Albertina, part of a nucleus of drawings given by him to Giovanni Francesco Penni.

However, in this drawing the contours are firmer and the brushwork dominates in the landscape background. Wolk-Simon has suggested Luca Penni, but the figures are not of the elongated, mannerist type of the group of drawings in the Louvre. There is a greater affinity with Raphael's finished brush drawings for a print, the "Piéta" in the Louvre. Other circumstances also suggest a connection with the immediate Raphael circle. Joseph Heintz in 1609 linked the composition with that of one of the Albertina drawings, mentioned above, in a mythological composition, this in fact links the Stockholm drawing with the group in Vienna. There is also a copy of the Stockholm drawing by Dosio, leaving out the putto on the water. Hülsen associated it, quoting Fischel's opinion, with Peruzzi's work in Villa Madama. Although this subject is not found in the villa, there is a certain affinity withsome of the drawings for the scenes there. [Bjurström, It. Drawings, cat. no. 534]

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