London
Raphael's tapestry cartoons at the Victoria and Albert Museum may originally have been intended to hang in the Sistine Chapel beneath Michelangelo's ceiling. This theory comes from V&A experts who are now examining the cartoons using techniques such as X-radiography and infra-red and ultra-violet light.
The opportunity to study the cartoons has arisen because essential building work is being undertaken in the V&A's Raphael Gallery. This has required taking down the large framed cartoons from the walls until next year. Examination of "Christ's charge to St Peter" and "The death of Ananias" is now almost complete and work on the remaining five cartoons should be finished by next summer.
The cartoons have held up well since they were last examined free of glass in the 1960s. V&A conservators have undertaken some light cleaning of the stretchers where necessary, but intervention has been kept to a minimum. In areas where paper had lifted from the canvas it has been reattached, and strips of Japanese paper have been attached to the edges of the cartoons where they had suffered some slight damage from rubbing where they were fitted tightly into their frames. Otherwise, only preventative conservation has been used.
The opportunity to examine the cartoons has led to speculation concerning the original status of the works, however. The findings of the V&A's Raphael Project, led by V&A curator Susan Lambert, will be particularly important because the seven works are the earliest surviving set of European tapestry cartoons.
The new evidence shows that Raphael probably regarded the cartoons as independent works of art, not simply as patterns for the tapestry weavers. This is revealed by the way that he strengthened the paper and the subtlety of his colouring.
The most important discovery so far concerns the way in which the paper cartoons were laid onto canvas. There are two layers of canvas and until recently it was assumed that both were added in 1698 when the cartoons were put on display at Hampton Court. However, it now seems that the first canvas dates back to the time that Raphael painted them in 1515-16.
Each of the cartoons was cut into four or five vertical strips, presumably by the Brussels tapestry maker Pieter van Aelst. A close examination of the cartoons has revealed that the first canvas has also been cut along these lines, which is strong evidence that the backing was already there when it left Raphael's studio.
Additional evidence for this theory is the way that the small sheets of paper were pasted together to make the 11 x 17 foot cartoons. Photogrammetry, which registers differences in relief, was used to chart the overlap of the nearly 200 sheets. This showed that they were not laid down sequentially, as might be expected if one was creating a working surface without a backing.
"Raphael or his assistants must have pasted the paper onto the canvas before painting the cartoons. This suggests that he wanted them to be strong enough to survive as independent works of art", said Dr Sharon Fermor, the V&A's Head of Paintings.
The cartoons were almost immediately regarded as such in Raphael's own time. The relatively new techniques of print-making made the designs widely known, and the great art patron Cardinal Domenico Grimani owned the now missing cartoon of the "Conversion of St Paul".
Dr Fermor also believes that the quality of the paintwork shows that Raphael was striving for a much more sophisticated effect than the weavers required. X-rays have revealed what could be an underpaint, and a paint structure unnecessary for the weavers, who needed only colour indications, not body colour. Conservators are continuing to undertake pigment analysis to establish whether any areas of the cartoon have been subject to retouching.
Raphael's palette is radically different from that used by weavers of the period. He used fewer primary colours and more secondaries, combining them for harmonious effect. Raphael even used some pastel tones which the tapestry-makers would have been unable to match with their dyes. His emphasis on relief and heavy chiaroscuro was also quite different from the clear outlines that were needed by the weavers.
"Raphael approached the colouring not in the way best suited to the making of tapestry, but to enhance his reputation as a colourist", explained Dr Fermor. There are more than a dozen instances where Raphael has deliberately echoed elements from Michelangelo's frescoes in the cartoons. For example, the figure of Jesus in "Christ's charge to St Peter" is in a similar pose, in reverse, to that in Michelangelo's "God creating the sun and the moon".
Dr Fermor is now putting forward the theory that Pope Leo X may have intended to display the cartoons themselves in the Sistine Chapel. The tapestries themselves were only displayed on special occasions and she believes that the Pope might have planned to hang the cartoons on the walls at other times. However, the cartoons were retained by the Brussels weaver Van Aelst, possibly as security for the Papacy's unpaid bill, and were never returned to Rome. In 1623 seven cartoons were bought by Charles, Prince of Wales (the remaining three cartoons have long been lost) and have been in Britain ever since.
Originally appeared in The Art Newspaper as 'Raphael's cartoons as rivals to Michelangelo'