Letter from Gustav Waagen to Dr. Ernst Becker announcing that he is sending glass negatives and prints of the Raphael pictures in his museum; three other photographs will follow, and he draws attention to two more Raphael works in Gotha and Hanover.

Dr. Waagen writes that he is at last sending, as requested by the Prince Consort, glass plate negatives and prints of the following pictures by Raphael in the Berlin museum: Passavant II no. 8 [Madonna] Solly; no. 21 three [?'Runde', roundels,]; no. 28 [Madonna] Terranuova, showing the Virgin and Child with the young St. John, which will be in Passavant's new edition. Also a Christ as a Pietà, which Rumohr, Waagen and others consider to be by Raphael but which Passavant doubts; it is a small, modest painting on fine canvas and has come out very imperfectly; the others too leave something to be desired, but this is the best that could be achieved in the museum, from which the paintings could not be removed. Only one other painting, no. 16 in Passavant, came out too badly to be included. As it is one of the most attractive little pictures, another attempt will be made, and Waagen will send it with the negative of the lunette of Passavant II no. 31, which is in the Neues Palais in Potsdam, and that of Herr von Savigny's drawing. Waagen begs the Prince's pardon for the excessive delay, caused partly by the difficulty of choosing a photographer after the lamentable outcome of the earlier photographs, and partly by the tardiness of the photographer finally chosen. Waagen also had to pay him more than the previous man. He hopes that the glass plates will at least arrive unbroken. In case the Prince has not already had a photograph made of the very fine drawing of the Lamentation of Christ in the collection of the Duke of Coburg-Gotha which Waagen saw in Gotha last autumn, he would like to draw it to HRH's attention. There is also a very fine portrait in the Hausmann collection which the King of Hanover bought last year, which Waagen and other colleagues think is by Raphael, and he will send the Prince a photograph of this. Finally, Waagen reports that he has seen Princess Frederick William only once and very briefly, at an evening party. The Director General, Herr von Olfers, has not told him about a visit to the museum by HRH and her husband. In the time of his predecessor, Count Brühl, who knew something about art, each Director was expected to represent his section on such occasions, but Olfers, who knows nothing about art, does his best to prevent any contact between Waagen and the Royal Family. The Prince has nevertheless promised him that he will have an opportunity to take the Princess round. Transcript and part translation in separate folder and in RA Research Information.