Explore Collections
You are here:
CollectionsOnline
/
A head from the cartoon for the tapestry of The Presentation in the Temple
Browse
SM P35. ©Sir John Soane's Museum, London. Photo: Art UK
Attributed to Tommaso Vincidor ( - 1536)
After Raphael (1483 - 1520)
After Raphael (1483 - 1520)
A head from the cartoon for the tapestry of The Presentation in the Temple
c.1524
Oil and tempera on paper
Height: 55.4cm
Width: 43.2cm
Width: 43.2cm
Inscription: None
Museum number: P35
On display: Picture Room - inside planes (by arrangement or on some pre-booked tours)
All spaces are in No. 13 Lincoln's Inn Fields unless identified as in No. 12, Soane's first house.
For tours https://www.soane.org/your-visit - not all tours show the inside of all planes.
Curatorial note
The commission for twelve tapestries of the Life of Christ given to Raphael was supervised by Giulio Romano. Tommaso Vincidor, another of Raphael's assistants, is known to have executed cartoons for this commission in Brussels and this head has been attributed to him.
Provenance
The twelve tapestries of the Life of Christ were woven by in 1524-31 in the workshop of Pieter van Aelst in Brussels. The tapestries themselves were for the Scuola Nuova in the Vatican. The cartoons remained in the possession of the weaver and subsequently passed into the hands of Govaert Flinck, a pupil of Rembrandt; his son Nicholas Flinck (1646-1723) cut out heads, feet and hands and offered them for sale. Over a hundred such fragments reached England in 1720 and the painter Jonathan Richardson (1665-1745) owned at least fifty of them. This head was sold at the Richardson sale in 1747 and acquired by the Duke of Argyll. At the Duke's sale at Langford's in 1779 it was purchased by John Flaxman the sculptor, a close friend of John Soane. His estate was inherited by his sister-in-law Maria Denman after the death of his wife. Soane acquired this head from Miss Denman between 1832 and c.1834-35 (it is first mentioned in Soane's 1835 Description).
Literature
Gunn, W., 'Cartonensia or an historical and critical account of the tapestries', 1832.
Soane, Description, 1835, p.16.
Charles Hope, unpublished MA thesis, Courtauld Institute, 1968.
Thornton. P. and Dorey. H., A Miscellany of Objects from Sir John Soane's Museum, 1992, p.46 and fig.40
New Description (Museum guidebook), 2007, p.31.
Sir John Soane's Museum: A Complete Description (Museum guide book), new edition 2018, p.35
Soane, Description, 1835, p.16.
Charles Hope, unpublished MA thesis, Courtauld Institute, 1968.
Thornton. P. and Dorey. H., A Miscellany of Objects from Sir John Soane's Museum, 1992, p.46 and fig.40
New Description (Museum guidebook), 2007, p.31.
Sir John Soane's Museum: A Complete Description (Museum guide book), new edition 2018, p.35
Soane collections online is being continually updated. If you wish to find out more or if you have any further information about this object please contact us: worksofart@soane.org.uk