This print represents the moment when Ananias is struck down and dies after lying to Saint Peter about the proportion of earnings he is giving to the Church.
This print is in reverse of the Cartoon on which it is based. The so-called Raphael Cartoons, which this print reproduces, 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. This print is in reverse of the cartoon.
The Cartoons had been cut up into vertical strips, for reasons to do with the manufacture of tapestries, probably in Brussels. They were reassembled and put up on the walls of the King's Gallery at Hampton Court for the first time in June 1697. They were taken down again for part of 1699 to allow for alterations to the ceilings, doors and panelling, resulting in the arrangement seen in later prints by Gribelin. Their installation at Hampton Court marked their transformation from designs to be used in making tapestries into exhibited works of art. This print and its companion 'The Sacrifice at Lystra' (Dyce 2475) are the earliest prints which can truly be said to be "of the Cartoons".
This print and its pair are the only two Cartoon prints which Audran executed before his death in 1703. According to George Vertue they were produced in Paris from copies of the Cartoons made by the painter Charles Jervas (ca. 1675-1739). These copies belonged to William III's Secretary at War in Ireland and Jervas' patron, George Clarke (1661-1736). When Jervas stopped in Paris on his way to Rome on a trip funded by Clarke, he seems to have proposed to Audran the engraving of his Cartoon copies. Gérard Audran was an acclaimed French engraver responsible for prints of history paintings by artists such as Charles Le Brun and Nicholas Poussin. At this date theire was no Englilsh engraver, or French engraver resident in England, capable of producing prints on this scale or level of linear complexity.
Physical description
Ananias lies dying on the left of the foreground. To the right a man and woman react in horror. On a raised platform in the centre background a group of men stand, Saint Peter in the middle passing judgement on Ananias. In the background left people are carrying goods or counting money and on the right a man is handing money over to one of the men on the platform. A couple leave via steps to the right of the background; over the staircase is a window through which an onlooker watches the scene. Through a square opening on the left is a landscape with tree.
This print is in reverse of the cartoon from which it is derived but is faithful in compositional details except for the printed image being taller so that the top of the drapes and the people climbing the stairs are more visible.
Place of Origin
Paris, France (made)
Date
ca. 1700 (made)
Artist/maker
Audran, Gérard, born 1640 - died 1703 (printmaker)
Raphael, born 1483 - died 1520 (artist)
Materials and Techniques
etching and engraving on paper
Marks and inscriptions
Dedié a Messire Henry-François Daguesseau, Chevalier Con.er du Roy / en tous ses Conseils et son Procureur General.
Par son tres humble et tres obeissant seruiteur Audran
Dixit Petrus, Anania, cur tentauit Satanas cor tuum / mentiri te Spiriti Sancto, et fraudare de pretio agri.- / Audiens autem Ananias haec verba, cecidit et expirauit. / Act. Cap. 5. V. 3. et 5.
Pierre dit a Ananie; Comment Satan vous a-til persuadé / de mentir au Saint Esprit, et de detourner une partie du / prix du fonds de terre que vous auez vendu? Ananie n'eut / pas plustôt oüy ces paroles, qu il tomba et rendit l'esprit. / Act. Chap. 3.[sic] V. 3. et 5.
Raphael pinxit. G. Audran Lugd.sis Sculpsit et excudit cum privilegio Regis.
et ce vend a Paris rue St. Jacques aux 2: Piliers d'or.
Dimensions
Height: 58.5 cm approx, trimmed, Width: 69.6 cm approx, trimmed
Descriptive line
The Death of Ananias; from a cartoon by Raphael for the tapestries in the Sistine Chapel; etching and engraving by Gérard Audran; French School; c.1700.
Bibliographic References (Citation, Note/Abstract, NAL no)
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.
The text of the entry is as follows:
'FRENCH SCHOOL
...
GERARD AUDRAN.
Etcher, Engraver, and Author.
Born at Lyons in 1640, died at Paris in 1703.
...
The DEATH of ANANIAS. Le B. 40. From one of the cartoons by Raffaello, now in the South Kensington Museum. 2473'
'Le B.' refers to: Manuel de l'Amateur d'Estampes par Ch. Le Blanc. Paris, 1854-6.
Le Blanc, Charles. Manuel de l'Amateur d'Estampes. Paris, 1854-6.
Miller, Liz. 'From Marcantonio Raimondi to the Postcard: Prints of the Raphael Cartoons'. Display leaflet, 1995.
Includes further reading list.
Shearman, John. Raphael's Cartoons in the collection of Her Majesty the Queen and the tapestries for the Sistine Chapel. London, Phaidon, 1972.
General text about the cartoons and tapestries.
Fermor, Sharon. The Raphael Tapestry Cartoons: Narrative, Decoration, Design. London, Scala Books in association with the Victoria and Albery Museum.
General text about the cartoons and tapestries.
Exhibition History
From Marcantonio Raimondi to the Postcard: Prints of the Raphael Cartoons (Victoria & Albert Museum, Prints Gallery, Henry Cole Wing 17/09/1995-30/04/2004)
Labels and date
The Cartoons had been cut up into vertical strips, for reasons to do with the manufacture of tapestries, probably in Brussels. They were reassembled and put up on the walls of the King's Gallery at Hampton Court for the first time in June 1697. They were taken down again for part of 1699 to allow for alterations to the ceilings, doors and panelling, resulting in the arrangement seen in later prints by Gribelin. Their installation at Hampton Court marked their transformation from designs to be used in making tapestries into exhibited works of art. This print and its companion 'The Sacrifice at Lystra' (Dyce 2475) are the earliest prints which can truly be said to be "of the Cartoons". [1995]
Materials
Paper; Printing ink
Techniques
Etching (printing process); Engraving (printing process)
Subjects depicted
Landscapes (representations); Peter (Saint); Crowd scenes; Raphael Cartoons; Drapes; Ananias
Categories
Prints; Religion; Christianity
Collection code
PDP
