DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.59673#0038
22
second, and was meanly paid. Walpole says in vol. lii.
—“ Cooke repaired the Cartoons, and other pictures at
Hampton; but Walton had the salary.” Cooke as well as
Thornhill at times, worked at very low prices; for at that
period fresco painting, though in repute, was followed with
more success by foreign rivals.
There is no doubt of Raphael’s having made numerous
sketches of each subject, nor could it have been otherwise;
for it cannot be imagined, that even his great genius, could
throw so much mental energy into these designs, without
labour and study; and how much he surpassed his first
thoughts in beauty, and comprehensiveness, cannot be
doubted. Many of the early sketches were engraved in his
own studio and under his directions, by Antonio—others pro-
bably after Raphael’s lamented death, which took place only
two or three years after he finished these works. The early
sketches were dispersed ; and after many years, threw con-
fusion and doubt, on some of the matured designs; and from
this circumstance, the Tapestry workers have been accused of
taking liberties ! When, to prevent this, two pupils of
Raphael attended at Brussels; and a further recognition of
the original designs took place at Rome itself; not only by
Leo X. and the admiring crowds, but the great pupils of
Raphael; men known to have worked, almost as much upon
the designs, as their master ; such as Giulio Romano,
Franscesco Penni—Giovanni da Udini and others ! This
took place soon after the death of the “ divine Raphael”
nor was this admiration relaxed, as Lanzi affirms :—“ It
is wonderful to behold the crowds that flock to see them, and
who ever regard them with fresh avidity and delight.”—
Roscoe’s Trans, of Lanzi, vol. ii. p. 82.
Therefore if any doubts exist about originality, it is not
with the Tapestries ; they are now, what they ever have been ;
and defy the possibility of repairs—whilst the Cartoons are
precisely the reverse.
second, and was meanly paid. Walpole says in vol. lii.
—“ Cooke repaired the Cartoons, and other pictures at
Hampton; but Walton had the salary.” Cooke as well as
Thornhill at times, worked at very low prices; for at that
period fresco painting, though in repute, was followed with
more success by foreign rivals.
There is no doubt of Raphael’s having made numerous
sketches of each subject, nor could it have been otherwise;
for it cannot be imagined, that even his great genius, could
throw so much mental energy into these designs, without
labour and study; and how much he surpassed his first
thoughts in beauty, and comprehensiveness, cannot be
doubted. Many of the early sketches were engraved in his
own studio and under his directions, by Antonio—others pro-
bably after Raphael’s lamented death, which took place only
two or three years after he finished these works. The early
sketches were dispersed ; and after many years, threw con-
fusion and doubt, on some of the matured designs; and from
this circumstance, the Tapestry workers have been accused of
taking liberties ! When, to prevent this, two pupils of
Raphael attended at Brussels; and a further recognition of
the original designs took place at Rome itself; not only by
Leo X. and the admiring crowds, but the great pupils of
Raphael; men known to have worked, almost as much upon
the designs, as their master ; such as Giulio Romano,
Franscesco Penni—Giovanni da Udini and others ! This
took place soon after the death of the “ divine Raphael”
nor was this admiration relaxed, as Lanzi affirms :—“ It
is wonderful to behold the crowds that flock to see them, and
who ever regard them with fresh avidity and delight.”—
Roscoe’s Trans, of Lanzi, vol. ii. p. 82.
Therefore if any doubts exist about originality, it is not
with the Tapestries ; they are now, what they ever have been ;
and defy the possibility of repairs—whilst the Cartoons are
precisely the reverse.