This picture represents the moment when the people of Lystra, impressed when Saints Paul and Barnabas heal a cripple (seen on the right), mistake them as gods Mercury and Jupiter and prepare to make sacrifices in their honour before Paul and Barnabas beg them to stop.
This print reproduces a cartoon by Raphael. 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.
Physical description
In a town centre square with classical buildings a crowd has gathered to watch a sacrifice of two bulls and a ram. In the centre a man raises an axe to kill the bull standing in the centre. To the left, Saints Paul and Barnabas stand on a raised platform and there is a square plinth (altar) ornamented with carved festoons, angles, rams heads, animals a jug and a medallion, behind this stand two boys, one holding a decorated box and the other playing pipes. In the background is a statue of Mercury on a plinth and behind is a landscape representation with more buildings. Lower right of the image a man has thrown away his walking sticks.
This print is in the same direction as the cartoon from which it is derived but is faithful in compositional detail except that the image is slightly taller.
Place of Origin
London (published)
Date
before 1755 (engraved)
19th century (published)
Artist/maker
Lépicié, François Bernard, born 1698 - died 1755 (engraver)
Raphael, born 1483 - died 1520 (artist)
Brooker, T. (printer)
W. Tegg (published)
Materials and Techniques
etching and engraving on paper
Marks and inscriptions
B. LÉPICIÉ, SCULP.
Lower right
RAPHAEL URBIN. PINX.
Lower left
LONDON: PUBLISHED BY W. TEGG, PANCRAS LANE.
Centre
PAUL AND BARNABAS AT LYSTRA.
Centre, outline capitals
Printed by T. Brooker.
Lower right
Dimensions
Height: 47.7 cm sheet, Width: 59.6 cm sheet, Height: 39.7 cm platemark, Width: 43.4 cm platemark
Descriptive line
Etching and engraving by François Bernard Lépicié, after a cartoon by Raphael, published by W. Tegg; The Sacrifice at Lystra; published in London.
Bibliographic References (Citation, Note/Abstract, NAL no)
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.
Le Blanc, Charles. Manuel de l'Amateur d'Estampes. Paris, 1854-6.
Vol. II, p. 537
Materials
Printing ink; Paper
Techniques
Engraving (printing process); Etching (printing process)
Subjects depicted
Crowd scenes; Boxes; Clothing, Costume; Ornament; Plinths; Festoons; Townscapes; Miracle; Columns; Bulls; Altar; Sacrifice; Angels; Healing; Axe; Sandals; Landscapes; Rams; Raphael Cartoons; Medallions; Classical statues
Categories
Prints; Religion; Christianity
Collection
Prints, Drawings & Paintings Collection
