An allegorical portrait of Raphael with the Arts

A mezzotint after a drawing by Carlo Maratti now in the Louvre, Paris (inv. no. RF 49959). This drawing shows the allegorical figures of the Arts and Fame mourning a bust portrait of Raphael, which is loosely based on the self-portrait depicted in the fresco 'The School of Athens' painted by Raphael in c.1509-10 in the Stanza della Segnatura, Vatican. Lettered with the title, the names of the printmaker and the intermediate draughtsman with publication details. This print is lettered with a dedication to William, Duke of Devonshire from the publisher Edward Cooper and is the title page of Cooper's Cartoons.

John Simon executed seven plates and the accompanying title page (here catalogued) after seven of ten cartoons designed by Raphael and illustrating episodes from the lives of St Peter and St Paul commissioned by Pope Leo X for the Sistine Chapel, Vatican. The tapestry designs were executed by Raphael and his workshop and transported to Flanders, where the tapestries were woven in the workshop of Pieter van Aelst. Seven of the tapestry cartoons survive now in the Victoria and Albert Museum on loan from the Royal Collection. The ten original tapestries, intended to be hung in the Sistine Chapel, are housed in the Vatican Museums.