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St Paul Preaching at Athens

Print
late 17th - early 18th century (made)
Artist/Maker
Place of origin

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 and therefore the same direction as the tapestry.

Nicholas Dorigny's prints were the subject of an editorial in the 'Spectator' on the 19th November 1711. "These invaluable pieces are very justly in the Hands of the greatest and most pious sovereign in the World; and cannot be the frequent object of every one at their own leisure; but an engraver is to a painter, what a printer is to an author it is worthy Her Majesty's name, that she has encouraged that noble artist Monsieur Dorigny to publish these works of Raphael." Writing in 1722 about the works of Raphael in Rome, Jonathan Richardson said "That I should write upon what I never saw may appear strange to some; Such may please only to obeserve that My remarks are chiefly upon the way of thinking itself."

The engraver and antiquarian George Vertue had met and spoken with Dorigny. Vertue records that "several gentlemen of note travelling to Rome there found Mr Dorigny who was then in the highest reputation for several engraved works after Raphael. These got him justly the reputation of the first engraver in Europe for which reason several Curious persons persuaded & engaged him to come to England to undertake those Famous Cartons at Hampton Court painted by Raphael...From his coming to England [in 1711] I may justly date the rise of the reputation of the engraving."

The first proposal was that Dorigny engrave the Cartoons for the exclusive use of Queen Anne as presents for the nobility and visiting diplomats. Dorigny's price for the work of £4000-£5000 meant this idea was quashed and the prints were sold by subscription at four guineas a set. Dorigny was provided with limited royal patronage in the form of lodgings at Hampton Court, coals, and a bottle of wine a day.

The lettering in this set of prints is entirely in Latin underlining how they were aimed at an elite educated market. Listed are the titles, biblical quotations, details of the lcoations of the Cartoons and their sizes.

Queen Anne had died while Dorigny was still at work. On the first of April 1719 Dorigny presented to King George I two sets of his newly completed prints of the Cartoons. On the 13th June 1720 Dorigny received a knighthood. He was the first of only two individuals in the history of British art to be knighted for having made particular prints. The other was Sir Robert Strange, knighted in 1787 for an engraving of Benjamin West's 'Apotheosis of the Princes Octavius and Alfred'.

Object details

Categories
Object type
Titles
  • St Paul Preaching at Athens (popular title)
  • Pinacotheca Hamptoniana (series title)
  • Raphael Cartoons (generic title)
Materials and techniques
etching and engraving on paper
Brief description
St. Paul Preaching at Athens by Sir Nicholas Dorigny (1657-1746); from a cartoon by Raphael for the tapestries in the Sistine Chapel; etching and engraving; British; 1719.

The V&A holds two other sets of the Pinacotheca Hamptoniana; see Museum No. E.656-1996 (bound volume) and Museum Nos. 20282 to 20289.
Physical description
Saint Paul stands on steps in front of a building, right, preaching to a crowd. Behind is a townscape and two buildings, one rotund with marble columns and statues in niches, the other square with arches. There is a statue of Mars just behind the listening crowd.

This print is in reverse of the cartoon from which it is derived but faithfully reproduces the compositional details of the original.
Dimensions
  • Platemark height: 51.7cm
  • Platemark width: 61.8cm
Style
Marks and inscriptions
  • Raphael Sanctius Vrbinas Pinxit (left side of lower margin)
  • Eq. Nicolaus Dorigny Gallus Del. & Sculp. (right side of lower margin)
  • PAVLVS PRAEDICANS IN AREOPAGO. (Title lower margin, centred)
  • Stans autem Paulus in medio Arcopagi, ait: Viri Athenienses per omnia quaisi Superstitiosiores vos video. Praeteriens enim, et videns Simulachra vestra, inveni et aram in qua Scriptum erat: IGNOTO DEO. Quod ergo / ignorantes colitis, hoc ego annuntio vobis. Deus qui fecit mundum, et omnia quae in eo sunt. Act. Apost. Cap. XVIII. (Lower margin)
  • Exemplar asservatur in Palatio MAG. BRIT. REG. dicto HAMPTON-COVRT Long. ped. 14. pol. 7. Alt. ped. 11. pol. 4. (Lower margin centred below rest of text)
  • 5 (Plate number lower right)
Credit line
Bequeathed by Rev. Alexander Dyce
Production
later impression, first printed 1719
Subjects depicted
Place depicted
Literary referenceBible, Acts, 18
Summary
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 and therefore the same direction as the tapestry.

Nicholas Dorigny's prints were the subject of an editorial in the 'Spectator' on the 19th November 1711. "These invaluable pieces are very justly in the Hands of the greatest and most pious sovereign in the World; and cannot be the frequent object of every one at their own leisure; but an engraver is to a painter, what a printer is to an author it is worthy Her Majesty's name, that she has encouraged that noble artist Monsieur Dorigny to publish these works of Raphael." Writing in 1722 about the works of Raphael in Rome, Jonathan Richardson said "That I should write upon what I never saw may appear strange to some; Such may please only to obeserve that My remarks are chiefly upon the way of thinking itself."

The engraver and antiquarian George Vertue had met and spoken with Dorigny. Vertue records that "several gentlemen of note travelling to Rome there found Mr Dorigny who was then in the highest reputation for several engraved works after Raphael. These got him justly the reputation of the first engraver in Europe for which reason several Curious persons persuaded & engaged him to come to England to undertake those Famous Cartons at Hampton Court painted by Raphael...From his coming to England [in 1711] I may justly date the rise of the reputation of the engraving."

The first proposal was that Dorigny engrave the Cartoons for the exclusive use of Queen Anne as presents for the nobility and visiting diplomats. Dorigny's price for the work of £4000-£5000 meant this idea was quashed and the prints were sold by subscription at four guineas a set. Dorigny was provided with limited royal patronage in the form of lodgings at Hampton Court, coals, and a bottle of wine a day.

The lettering in this set of prints is entirely in Latin underlining how they were aimed at an elite educated market. Listed are the titles, biblical quotations, details of the lcoations of the Cartoons and their sizes.

Queen Anne had died while Dorigny was still at work. On the first of April 1719 Dorigny presented to King George I two sets of his newly completed prints of the Cartoons. On the 13th June 1720 Dorigny received a knighthood. He was the first of only two individuals in the history of British art to be knighted for having made particular prints. The other was Sir Robert Strange, knighted in 1787 for an engraving of Benjamin West's 'Apotheosis of the Princes Octavius and Alfred'.
Associated objects
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.
  • Le Blanc, Charles. Manuel de l'Amateur d'Estampes. Paris, 1854-6.
  • Gilpin, William. An Essay Upon Prints., 1768, p. 83.
  • Meyer, A. Apostles in England: Sir James Thornhill and the Legacy of the Rapael Taspestry Cartoons. Exhibition catalogue, Miriam and Ira D. Wallach Art Gallery, Columbia University, New York, 1996, pp.27-30, figs 12 and 16 [other impressions exhibited].
  • Dorigny, Nicholas. Pinacotheca Hamptoniana. London, 1719.
  • 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
58 - <u>Manuel de l'Amateur d'Estampes par Ch. Le Blanc</u>. Paris, 1854-6.
Collection
Accession number
DYCE.2566

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Record createdApril 8, 2010
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