Raphael's Cartoons

The cartoons are painted in a glue distemper medium on sheets of paper that are glued together. They are all slightly over 3 m tall, and from 3 to 5 m wide; the figures are therefore larger than life-size. Raphael received 1000 ducats, it is estimated. It is likely that the cartoons were completed in 1516 then sent straight to Brussels for the tapestries to be woven, as seven of the tapestries were already completed by 1519. On the first viewing of the tapestries, at Christmas 1519, it was remarked by Paris di Grasis: “The whole chapel was struck dumb by the sight of these hangings.”

The original weaver was Pieter Van Aelst. He practised low-warp weaving. This technique involves the loom being horizontal, like a cloth loom. The warp is separated b treadles that are worked by foot, leaving the hands free for weaving. It is a more rapid method than high-warp weaving. In 1534 Francis I of France requested three of the tapestries to be made, and another set of nine were woven for Henry VIII, and more were sent around Europe. In the sets for Francis I and Henry VIII gold and silver thread was woven through them, to enrich them, just as the originals had.

The cartoons remained with Van Aelst, apart from one. The cartoons were lost until March 1623. Francis Crane, manager of the Mortlake tapestry works, was instructed by King James I to bring them to England. They were reproduced as tapestries at Mortlake. In 1649 they were valued by the Parliamentary Commission at their purchase price of £300. On the Restoration they became property of Charles II. This marks a change in how cartoons were regarded. Initially thought of as just blueprints for tapestries, they could now be deemed works of art. When the Palace at Hampton Court was being rebuilt, a gallery was made to display the cartoons. They remained at Hampton Court until 1763. after travelling around some more, in 1865 Queen Victoria agreed to have them displayed in the South Kensington Museum (now the V&A) and they have remained there.

the cartoons had to be composed with the thought in mind that the tapestries would be the reverse design. The style of the cartoons is less detailed than Raphael's frescoes, and for this reason it was more difficult for the weavers to interpret them. Van Aelst's weavers were unused to the empty spaces, so changes were made. In the Miraculous Draught of Fishes, the horizon has been raised and more detail has been put in the foreground. Despite the variations, the works were applauded. Vasari commented on the additional detail, “it is rather a miracle...they seem not to have been woven but wrought with the brush.”

In order to make the tapestry, patterns must be taken from the cartoon and this means the final tapestry will be a reversed image of the cartoon. When looking at an image, Western viewers tend to look from left to right more so because the eye is trained to see in the direction of reading. Therefore when the images are in their final positioning they are more dynamic and powerful. The preliminary sketches are clearly for a cartoon's composition as opposed to a tapestry. However some of the gestures in the cartoons made with the left hand are corrected in the final tapestry. For example in Christ's Charge to the Apostles, Christ points to the keys with his left hand. Generally High Renaissance compositions were designed for reading from left to right. In cartoons such as the Charge of Peter the action falls on the left side, to be switched in the tapestry. In these cases, the reversal enhances the design. But in expressiveness the cartoons are superior. The decorative border in the tapestries detract from the solemnity of the cartoons.

The cartoons were painted on paper in sized colours. The technique appears closer to watercolour than to fresco painting, and the charcoal underneath is still visible. The colour has changed in some scenes, such as Christ's robe in Miraculous Draught of Fishes which was red and is now white. This is evident as the robe is red in the Vatican tapestry. Some of the heads have been retouched and various renovations probably happened between the mid 16th and the early 19th centuries. This has made it difficult to work out what part Raphael's hand played, and where he was helped out by his pupils. Gian Francesco Penni, Raphael's most distinguished pupil, is thought to have done the borders, which are now lost. There was once a theory that he was responsible for the entire work. More recent analysis shows that much of the work is Raphael's own, and that the work of two other hands is evident.

The scenes astonishing clarity and structure' that is found in the School of Athens, Raphael's famous fresco in the Stanze di Raffaello, in the Apostolic Palace in the Vatican. This is combined with strong dramatic emphasis that is typical of Raphael's later work . It reaches its highest point with the great altarpiece, the Transfiguration. This dramatic emphasis comes from the nature of the composition as well as the treatment of individual figures. Such as in Saint Paul at Athens the figures of Dionysius and Damans, in the right-hand corner, lead the eye to the figure of the saint on the steps in the middle. 'Like some theatrical producer, Raphael determines the relationship of each participant to the event.'

These cartoons are among the most influential works of art ever produced. During the 18th and early 19th centuries, Raphael reached the peak of his reputation as one of the greatest painters in history. Consequently, the Raphael Cartoons became some of the most famous, and widely imitated, paintings in the world. Unlike the frescoes in he Vatican, Raphael's tapestry designs were spread all over Europe. The tapestries, and later the steel engravings, have become visual heritage for artists.

It is clear that Raphael's cartoons are more than just a basis for the tapestries, they are works of art in their own right. The artist appeared to regard them in the same light. This is evident by the choice he made in favour of the cartoon for the Conversion of the Proconsul, with the inscription at the bottom. This would have been a decision made at the expense of inconvenience for the weavers. In 1521 the cartoon for the Conversion of Saul, which is now lost, was already out of Brussels and in the possession of Cardinal Domenico Grimani, in Venice. The work was being regarded as a work of art even at this early stage. This seems inevitable, due to the skill and effort Raphael put into the cartoons which is on par with any of the works that form the canon of the history of art.

Works cited

Pope-Hennessy, John, The Raphael Cartoons, London, 1958

Shearman, John, Raphael's Cartoons in the Collection of Her Majesty the Queen and the Tapestries for the Sistine Chapel, London, 1974