St. Paul Preaching at Athens thumbnail 1
St. Paul Preaching at Athens thumbnail 2
Request to view

This object can be requested via email from the Prints & Drawings Study Room

St. Paul Preaching at Athens

Print
1517-1520 (made)
Artist/Maker
Place of origin

This engraving is in the same direction as the cartoon from which it is derived but differs from it in some details. In this print Raimondi has provided a more urban background setting and turned the building behind St Paul into a ruin. The so-called Raphael Cartoons are seven full size designs for tapestries by the great Italian Renaissance artist Raphael (1483-1520). They illustrate passages from the Bible concerning the lives of Saint Peter and Saint Paul. None of them is smaller than ten feet high by thirteen feet wide. They belong to Her Majesty the Queen and have been on loan to this museum since 1865. The earliest print relating to the Raphael Cartoons dates from 1516, the year in which Raphael received final payment for the commission. It inaugurates an extraordinary case study in the history of printmaking, stretching over more than four hundred and fifty years and across a wide range of printmaking techniques.

Marcantonio Raimondi was the most admired engraver of his generation, active in Rome in the second decade of the sixteenth century. In a total output of around two hundred and fifty engravings, some fifty of them are based on compositions by Raphael. Their association is the most important example of a collaboration between a painter and a printmaker in the history of European printmaking. This is because to subsequent generations of art lovers both were revered as leading figures in their fields.

Object details

Categories
Object type
Titles
  • St. Paul Preaching at Athens (popular title)
  • Raphael Cartoons (generic title)
Materials and techniques
engraving on paper
Brief description
St. Paul Preaching at Athens; from a cartoon by Raphael for the tapestries in the Sistine Chapel; engraving by Marcantonio Raimondi; Italian School; ca. 1516
Physical description
Saint Paul is on the left standing on steps preaching to a crowd. He stands in front of a building which is partially in ruins. Behind is a townscape and a rotund building with marble columns and niches, on top of which is a balcony with people standing on it. There is a statue of Mars just behind the listening crowd.

This print is in the same direction as the cartoon from which it is derived but differs in some details, such as the ruined building, the background, omission of statues in the niches of the rotunda and inclusion of people on the balcony.
Dimensions
  • Trimmed height: 27cm
  • Trimmed width: 36cm
Style
Marks and inscriptions
  • [Raimondi's empty tablet] (On it's side lower left corner)
  • [illegible] (mss note in ink lower right corner verso)
Gallery label
(1995)
This engraving is the same way round as the Cartoon. Marcantonio Raimondi was the most admired engraver of his generation, active in Rome in the second decade of the sixteenth century. In a total output of around two hundred and fifty engravings, some fifty of them are based on compositions by Raphael. Their association is the most important example of a collaboration between a painter and a printmaker in the history of European printmaking. This is because to subsequent generations of art lovers both were revered as leading figures in their fields.
Credit line
Bequeathed by Rev. Alexander Dyce
Object history
From a design by Raphael for the tapestries in the Sistine Chapel, Vatican Rome.
Production
second state, 1517-1520
Subjects depicted
Place depicted
Literary referenceBible, Acts, 18
Summary
This engraving is in the same direction as the cartoon from which it is derived but differs from it in some details. In this print Raimondi has provided a more urban background setting and turned the building behind St Paul into a ruin. The so-called Raphael Cartoons are seven full size designs for tapestries by the great Italian Renaissance artist Raphael (1483-1520). They illustrate passages from the Bible concerning the lives of Saint Peter and Saint Paul. None of them is smaller than ten feet high by thirteen feet wide. They belong to Her Majesty the Queen and have been on loan to this museum since 1865. The earliest print relating to the Raphael Cartoons dates from 1516, the year in which Raphael received final payment for the commission. It inaugurates an extraordinary case study in the history of printmaking, stretching over more than four hundred and fifty years and across a wide range of printmaking techniques.

Marcantonio Raimondi was the most admired engraver of his generation, active in Rome in the second decade of the sixteenth century. In a total output of around two hundred and fifty engravings, some fifty of them are based on compositions by Raphael. Their association is the most important example of a collaboration between a painter and a printmaker in the history of European printmaking. This is because to subsequent generations of art lovers both were revered as leading figures in their fields.
Associated object
ROYAL LOANS.7 (Source)
Bibliographic references
  • DYCE COLLECTION. A Catalogue of the Paintings, Miniatures, Drawings, Engravings, Rings and Miscellaneous Objects Bequeathed by The Reverend Alexander Dyce. London : South Kensington Museum : Printed by G.E. Eyre and W. Spottiswoode for H.M.S.O., 1874.
  • Gilpin, William. An Esay Upon Prints., 1768, p. 50-51.
  • Bartsch, Adam von. Peintre-Graveur, 1808-1821, Vol. XIV.
  • Strauss, Walter L. Illustrated Bartsch, 1978-, Vol. 26-27.
  • Miller, Liz. 'From Marcantonio Raimondi to the Postcard: Prints of the Raphael Cartoons'. Display leaflet, 1995.
  • Shearman, John. Raphael's Cartoons in the collection of Her Majesty the Queen and the tapestries for the Sistine Chapel. London, Phaidon, 1972.
  • Fermor, Sharon. The Raphael Tapestry Cartoons: Narrative, Decoration, Design. London, Scala Books in association with the Victoria and Albery Museum.
Other number
44 - Le Peintre-Graveur
Collection
Accession number
DYCE.1013

About this object record

Explore the Collections contains over a million catalogue records, and over half a million images. It is a working database that includes information compiled over the life of the museum. Some of our records may contain offensive and discriminatory language, or reflect outdated ideas, practice and analysis. We are committed to addressing these issues, and to review and update our records accordingly.

You can write to us to suggest improvements to the record.

Suggest feedback

Record createdJune 30, 2009
Record URL
Download as: JSONIIIF Manifest