CollectionVictorian Additional Papers
ReferenceVIC/ADD/A/10/85/420
Record TypeCorrespondence
TitleLetter from J.D. Passavant to Dr. Ernst Becker specifying which photographs of details from the Raphael Cartoons which he wants.
Date19 November 1859
WriterPassavant, Johann David; Curator of the Städel'sches Kunstitut in Frankfurt, biographer of Raphael
AddresseeBecker, Ernst, Dr.; Librarian to the Prince Consort
DescriptionPassavant confirms that his previous letter (see VIC/ADDA10/85/418) crossed with Becker's letter (see VIC/ADDA10/85/417), which answered his questions. He thanks Becker for the prospectus of photographs of the Raphael Cartoons published by the Department of Practical Art, and for his offer to order what Passavant wants from it. He lists his requirements, but as the prospectus does not describe the photographs in sufficient detail, he cannot be sure whether the numbers he gives are the correct ones; he therefore encloses a list (see VIC/ADDA10/85/421) of the photographs he has already received, to enable Becker to work out which are the missing items that Passavant wants. He states that his Institute will see to the purchase of the other photographs [of Raphael drawings] published in England, without troubling Becker further.
Passavant goes on to comment on the photographs and prints which Becker has sent him. He is sure that the Assumption at Wilton House is the one mentioned by Goede; it seems to Passavant to belong to the Lombardic-Venetian school. The information given by Dr. Huybens is wrong, like so much he has told Passavant. The portrait of a young man belonging to Mr Baring (no. 287) does indeed show him holding a book or folder under his arm, as Passavant stated, but in the photograph it looks like a band around his garment. Passavant is sure he saw the picture of the Holy Family (no. 267) in the same collection, as clearly indicated in his notebook at the time, but he does not know what title the picture was given in the collection.
With regard to the St. Morys facsimiles [etchings], as Becker will have seen from his previous letter Passavant immediately recognised them as from the London edition of St Morys's work, but he was glad to hear that these are the only ones in it attributed to Raphael. He thanks Becker for the information from M. Reiset's letter, which he returns. Becker will have found that the original drawing for no. 110, the pedestal in the Stanza di Eliodoro, is in the Stockholm collection.
Passavant reports that a gentleman from Coburg recently showed him two sepia watercolour drawings glued onto wood, showing the figures of John the Baptist and St Catherine from Raphael's picture of the 5 saints. They are copies, apparently from the drawing in the Louvre.
Finally he reports that the photographer, Schäfer, has not taken any more photographs of drawings or paintings by Raphael. He is much too busy with the lucrative business of portrait photographs.
On the back of 420 is a rough sketch in red ?chalk, probably of the picture of the young man with a book or folder under his arm.
Place Of WritingFrankfurt
LanguageGerman
Extent1 document (4 pages)
Physical DescriptionLoose manuscript paper; mounted
Access ConditionsAvailable in surrogate form only
Related MaterialFor related correspondence, see VIC/ADD/A/10/85/417, VIC/ADD/A/10/85/418 and VIC/ADD/A/10/85/421.
Digitisation NotesThese papers are available online within 'Prince Albert: His Life and Legacy'
LevelItem
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