The Seven Famous Cartons [sic] of Raphael Urbin
Print
1720 (published)
1720 (published)
Artist/Maker | |
Place of origin |
This print depicts the scene of Christ's Charge to Peter, combining text from two books of the bible, Matthew and John. According to Matthew, Christ asks Peter to care for his sheep and gives Peter the keys to his kingdom of Heaven, representing Peter's role of responsibility in the church and towards the faithful. The lake on the left is a visual continuation from the tapestry adjacent to it, the Miraculous Draught of Fishes.
This print is in reverse of the cartoon from which it is derived. 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.
Simon Gribelin was the first printmaker to issue a complete set of prints of the Cartoons. When they came out in 1707 they carried a letterpress titlepage dedicating them to Queen Anne. Although they met with success it was nothing compared to that which greeted the set produced by Nicholas Dorigny in 1719.
Gribelin was born in France but came to England around 1680. He was the most important silver engraver in London at the beginning of the eighteenth century. This meant engraving on the surfaces of watches, tea caddies, salvers etc. He was also a printmaker. In the 1690s he published two prints after history paintings by Charles Le Brun, then in 1706 he engraved an altar dish with a scene of the Deposition based on a picture by Annibale Carracci. These may have led to the idea of engraving the Cartoons.
The antiquarian George Vertue wrote in his notebooks "in London about 1700, the state of Print Engraving on Copper was at a low ebb… til about 1707. Mr Griblins cartons in print from the pictures of Raphael were well received, and vast numbers of them [sold]."
As well as visual information each print delivers written information in the form of a caption in English and Latin giving the title, the biblical reference, the names of the artist and the engraver, and stating the location of the Cartoons.
Horace Walpole, writing in 1763, said of these prints "their success was very great having never been completely engraved before; but they were too small a volume, nor had Gribelin anything of greatness in his manner or capacity: His works have no merit than finicalness, and that not in perfection, can give them." Dr. Johnson defined finicialness as "superfluous nicety or foppery".
Each of the individual engravings shows the Cartoon in reverse while the view of the Cartoon gallery shows them the right way round.
In March 1735 Gribelin's son was selling sets of his late father's prints of the Cartoons for 15 shillings. By 1753 they had dropped to half a guinea (ten shillings and sixpence) in the price list of the print-publisher John Bowles. The following year in the catalogue of the print-publisher Henry Overton II, they were listed under "Cheap Sets of Prints".
This print is in reverse of the cartoon from which it is derived. 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.
Simon Gribelin was the first printmaker to issue a complete set of prints of the Cartoons. When they came out in 1707 they carried a letterpress titlepage dedicating them to Queen Anne. Although they met with success it was nothing compared to that which greeted the set produced by Nicholas Dorigny in 1719.
Gribelin was born in France but came to England around 1680. He was the most important silver engraver in London at the beginning of the eighteenth century. This meant engraving on the surfaces of watches, tea caddies, salvers etc. He was also a printmaker. In the 1690s he published two prints after history paintings by Charles Le Brun, then in 1706 he engraved an altar dish with a scene of the Deposition based on a picture by Annibale Carracci. These may have led to the idea of engraving the Cartoons.
The antiquarian George Vertue wrote in his notebooks "in London about 1700, the state of Print Engraving on Copper was at a low ebb… til about 1707. Mr Griblins cartons in print from the pictures of Raphael were well received, and vast numbers of them [sold]."
As well as visual information each print delivers written information in the form of a caption in English and Latin giving the title, the biblical reference, the names of the artist and the engraver, and stating the location of the Cartoons.
Horace Walpole, writing in 1763, said of these prints "their success was very great having never been completely engraved before; but they were too small a volume, nor had Gribelin anything of greatness in his manner or capacity: His works have no merit than finicalness, and that not in perfection, can give them." Dr. Johnson defined finicialness as "superfluous nicety or foppery".
Each of the individual engravings shows the Cartoon in reverse while the view of the Cartoon gallery shows them the right way round.
In March 1735 Gribelin's son was selling sets of his late father's prints of the Cartoons for 15 shillings. By 1753 they had dropped to half a guinea (ten shillings and sixpence) in the price list of the print-publisher John Bowles. The following year in the catalogue of the print-publisher Henry Overton II, they were listed under "Cheap Sets of Prints".
Object details
Categories | |
Object type | |
Titles |
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Materials and techniques | engraving on paper |
Brief description | Christ's Charge to Peter; one of a set of seven (DYCE.2505 to 2511) engravings of the Raphael cartoons; engraving on paper; by Simon Gribelin (II); French School; engraved 1707; published 1720. |
Physical description | The scene is set in a hilly landscape setting with buildings and trees in the background. Christ is on the right and the Apostles stand to his left. Saint Peter holds a key and kneels in front of the group, just to the left of Christ. On the left is a lake, in which a boat is moored. The image is bordered by parallel lines forming a moulded frame. This print is in reverse of the cartoon from which it is derived but faithfully follows the compositional details, while raising the height slightly. |
Dimensions |
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Style | |
Marks and inscriptions | Christ's Charge to Peter. / John Chap:21. / Grav'd by Sim:Gribelin from the Cartoon of Raphael d'Urbin, / in the Royal Palace of Hampton-Court , in the Year 170 [sic] [ ie 1705] (Inscribed on the left-hand side of the print. On the right-hand side the text is repeated in Latin (date numerals on Latin side are MDCCV).) |
Gallery label | The antiquarian George Vertue wrote in his notebooks "in London about 1700, the state of Print Engraving on Copper was at a low ebb… til about 1707. Mr Griblins cartons in print from the pictures of Raphael were well received, and vast numbers of them [sold]."(1995) |
Credit line | Bequeathed by Rev. Alexander Dyce |
Object history | This is one of a set of seven engravings of the Raphael cartoons displayed by King William III in the Cartoon Gallery (designed by Christopher Wren) at Hampton Court in the 1690s. |
Production | later impression, original engraved 1707 |
Subjects depicted | |
Literary references |
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Summary | This print depicts the scene of Christ's Charge to Peter, combining text from two books of the bible, Matthew and John. According to Matthew, Christ asks Peter to care for his sheep and gives Peter the keys to his kingdom of Heaven, representing Peter's role of responsibility in the church and towards the faithful. The lake on the left is a visual continuation from the tapestry adjacent to it, the Miraculous Draught of Fishes. This print is in reverse of the cartoon from which it is derived. 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. Simon Gribelin was the first printmaker to issue a complete set of prints of the Cartoons. When they came out in 1707 they carried a letterpress titlepage dedicating them to Queen Anne. Although they met with success it was nothing compared to that which greeted the set produced by Nicholas Dorigny in 1719. Gribelin was born in France but came to England around 1680. He was the most important silver engraver in London at the beginning of the eighteenth century. This meant engraving on the surfaces of watches, tea caddies, salvers etc. He was also a printmaker. In the 1690s he published two prints after history paintings by Charles Le Brun, then in 1706 he engraved an altar dish with a scene of the Deposition based on a picture by Annibale Carracci. These may have led to the idea of engraving the Cartoons. The antiquarian George Vertue wrote in his notebooks "in London about 1700, the state of Print Engraving on Copper was at a low ebb… til about 1707. Mr Griblins cartons in print from the pictures of Raphael were well received, and vast numbers of them [sold]." As well as visual information each print delivers written information in the form of a caption in English and Latin giving the title, the biblical reference, the names of the artist and the engraver, and stating the location of the Cartoons. Horace Walpole, writing in 1763, said of these prints "their success was very great having never been completely engraved before; but they were too small a volume, nor had Gribelin anything of greatness in his manner or capacity: His works have no merit than finicalness, and that not in perfection, can give them." Dr. Johnson defined finicialness as "superfluous nicety or foppery". Each of the individual engravings shows the Cartoon in reverse while the view of the Cartoon gallery shows them the right way round. In March 1735 Gribelin's son was selling sets of his late father's prints of the Cartoons for 15 shillings. By 1753 they had dropped to half a guinea (ten shillings and sixpence) in the price list of the print-publisher John Bowles. The following year in the catalogue of the print-publisher Henry Overton II, they were listed under "Cheap Sets of Prints". |
Associated objects | |
Bibliographic references |
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Other number | 10 - <u>Manuel de l'Amateur d'Estampes par Ch. Le Blanc</u>. Paris, 1854-6. |
Collection | |
Accession number | DYCE.2506 |
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Record created | June 8, 2009 |
Record URL |
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