Letter from Lake Price to Dr. Ernst Becker informing him that he has been unable to photograph either the pictures in the Vatican, despite permission having been given, or the Raphael in the Academy of San Luca.

Price writes that when he went to the Vatican, de Fabris (Director of the Vatican Museums) told him Cardinal Antonelli would not allow the pictures to be moved into the daylight to enable them to be photographed. As it would have been useless to try to photograph them in situ, Price cannot provide the photographs the Prince Consort wanted; the same applies to all the Pontifical Museums. Furthermore, the Academy of San Luca authorities think it too dangerous to move the [picture of a] boy by Raphael because it is cracked, and painted on a curved surface. So apart from the Borghese and Barberini pictures, he has been unable to carry out any of the commissions he brought out from England, from publishers and others as well as from the Prince. He adds, however, that he intends to spend six months in Italy so that he will be happy to attend to any further commands from the Prince.