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The drawings collection of the Venetian nobleman Gabriele Vendramin (1484–1552) is the earliest major collection that is documented. Three primary sources, the first dated 1530, make it possible to chart the evolution of the collection over the last two decades of Vendramin’s life, to identify important works which it contained, to recognize the high value attached to the drawings and to understand how they were presented and conserved. The most important source, the inventory composed between 1567 and 1569, has not previously been fully scrutinized from the point of view of the drawings. The collection included works attributed to Raphael, Jacopo and Giovanni Bellini, Mantegna, Parmigianino and Domenico Campagnola. Drawings were not the only objects Vendramin collected, or indeed the main ones. Collecting drawings was still a new activity in the early sixteenth century and evaluating Vendramin’s practices and priorities helps to illuminate this formative period. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]