Letter from Gustav Waagen to Dr. Ernst Becker about retouching the photograph of the Raphael Madonna and Child and sending a photograph of the Princess of Prussia's picture of a monk, together with catalogues of the Humboldt art collection at Schloss Tege

Waagen apologises for his late reply to Becker's letter of 2 November, caused by the difficulty of finding an artist capable of retouching the photograph in question (see VIC/ADDA10/85/416, referring to the painting of the Madonna and Child in the Berlin Museum). He has now found an artist, but the price of 3 Friedrich d'or he asks for the work seems very high to Waagen, who therefore asks whether the Prince Consort will be willing to pay this.

He is glad to say that at his instance, a photographic print and the (glass plate) negative of the Princess of Prussia's picture of a Dominican monk is on its way to the Prince as a gift from the Princess. Although the head did not come out well because of the strong brownish-yellow colour of the original, a slight retouch has rendered the print very close to the original.

Waagen asks Becker to present, in his name, copies of a catalogue of the works of art in Schloss Tegel to the Prince and Queen Victoria, hoping that their interest in the Humboldt brothers and in fine art will make the gift welcome to them; he asks Becker to acccept a copy for himself too.
Becker has added at note of his reply at the head of the letter, saying that the glass plate had arrived in pieces, but that it had been possible to make 2 prints from it, which was sufficient. He thanked Waagen for it and for the catalogues, and told him that the Prince would pay the price asked for the retouch provided that it was good.

In Waagen's previous letter the monk was described as Carthusian. See VIC/ADDA10/85/449 for Waagen's letter sending the retouched photograph.

Related Material: For related correspondence, see VIC/ADDA10/85/416 and VIC/ADDA10/85/449.