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Image of Gallery in South Kensington
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The Healing of the Lame Man

Print
1855 (made)
Artist/Maker
Place of origin

The subject of this print is the Healing of the Lame Man by Saints Peter and John. The event took place at the Temple of Jerusalem at a gate known as the Beautiful Gate, which led to the entry into the Women's Court, where Israelite men and women could make offerings for the upkeep of the Temple. The man was begging for alms but Peter and John instead gave him the gift of being able to walk. The spiral columns shown in this image were modelled on those of the tomb of St Peter in St Peter's Basilica.

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.

George Baxter is famous for having developed a method of printing in full colour. In a total output of three hundred and seventy seven prints, only fifteen, including his prints of the Cartoons, are so-called Baxterotypes. Printed in shades of brown, they simulate photographs and the name echoes the word daguerreotype, the earliest photographic process, announced in 1839. George Baxter's premonition that the depiction of works of art by means of prints made by human hand would soon be facing a challenge from the new photographic processes, was correct. His simulated photographs of the Cartoons predate the first actual photographs of the Cartoons by only three years.


Object details

Categories
Object type
Titles
  • The Healing of the Lame Man (popular title)
  • St. Peter and St. John Healing the Lame Man (popular title)
  • Raphael Cartoons (generic title)
Materials and techniques
Baxterotype
Brief description
Print by George Baxter after Raphael, 'St. Peter and St. John Healing the Lame Man,' 1 of 5 prints from a set of 7 depicting the Raphael Cartoons, Baxterotype, England, 1855
Physical description
The subject is the Healing of the Lame Man by Saints Peter and John at the Beautiful Gate of the Temple of Jerusalem.

Scene showing a covered walkway of rows of spiral columns decorated with acanthus and putti climbing amongst foliage. A crowd waiting in the walkway watches as Peter and John help a lame man, sitting cross-legged in the centre foreground, to stand up. Another man with staff kneels nearby to the left. In the crowd to the right are two young children, one carrying two birds, a woman holding a baby and a woman carrying a basket of good, probably as a temple offering.

On mount with embossed seal.

This print is in the same direction as the cartoon from which it is derived and is a faithful reproduction in compositional detail.
Dimensions
  • Height: 14.5cm
  • Width: 21.3cm
Content description
Beautiful Gate of the Temple of Jerusalem
Style
Marks and inscriptions
Gift - Miss C W B (inscribed in red ink)
Gallery label
George Baxter is famous for having developed a method of printing in full colour. In a total output of three hundred and seventy seven prints, only fifteen, including his prints of the Cartoons, are so-called Baxterotypes. Printed in shades of brown, they simulate photographs and the name echoes the word daguerreotype, the earliest photographic proceess, announced in 1839. George Baxter's premonition that the depiction of works of art by means of prints made by human hand would soon be facing a challenge from the new photographic processes, was correct. His simulated photographs of the Cartoons predate the first actual photographs of the Cartoons by only three years.(1995)
Credit line
Bequeathed by Francis William Baxter
Subjects depicted
Literary referenceBible, Acts, 3
Summary
The subject of this print is the Healing of the Lame Man by Saints Peter and John. The event took place at the Temple of Jerusalem at a gate known as the Beautiful Gate, which led to the entry into the Women's Court, where Israelite men and women could make offerings for the upkeep of the Temple. The man was begging for alms but Peter and John instead gave him the gift of being able to walk. The spiral columns shown in this image were modelled on those of the tomb of St Peter in St Peter's Basilica.

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.

George Baxter is famous for having developed a method of printing in full colour. In a total output of three hundred and seventy seven prints, only fifteen, including his prints of the Cartoons, are so-called Baxterotypes. Printed in shades of brown, they simulate photographs and the name echoes the word daguerreotype, the earliest photographic process, announced in 1839. George Baxter's premonition that the depiction of works of art by means of prints made by human hand would soon be facing a challenge from the new photographic processes, was correct. His simulated photographs of the Cartoons predate the first actual photographs of the Cartoons by only three years.
Associated object
ROYAL LOANS.4 (Source)
Bibliographic references
  • Lewis, Courtney. George Baxter, the Picture Printer. 1924.
  • 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.
  • Victoria & Albert Museum Department of Prints and Drawings and Department of Paintings, Accessions 1932. London: HMSO, 1933
  • Lewis, C. T. Courtney. George Baxter (colour printer) his life and work: a manual for collectors. London: S. Low, Marston & Co. Ltd., 1908. cat. no. 249
Collection
Accession number
E.2932-1932

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Record createdJune 30, 2009
Record URL
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