These _Cartoons_ were executed by the famous Raphael, while engaged in
the chambers of the Vatican, under the auspices of Pope Julius II. and
Leo X. As soon as they were finished, they were sent to Flanders to be
copied in tapestry, for adorning the pontifical apartments; but the
tapestries were not conveyed to Rome till after the decease of Raphael,
and probably not before the dreadful sack of that city in 1527, under
the pontificate of Clement VII; when Raphael's scholars having fled from
thence, none were left to inquire after the original Cartoons, which lay
neglected in the storerooms of the manufactory, the money for the
tapestry having never been paid. The revolution that happened soon after
in the low countries prevented their being noticed during a period in
which works of art were wholly neglected. They were purchased by king
Charles I. at the recommendation of Rubens, but had been much injured by
the weavers. At the sale of the royal pictures in 1653, these Cartoons
were purchased for 300_l_. by Oliver Cromwell, against whom no one would
presume to bid. The protector pawned them to the Dutch court for upwards
of 50,000_l._, and, after the revolution, King William brought them over
again to England, and built a gallery for their reception in Hampton
Court. Originally there were twelve of these Cartoons, but four of them
have been destroyed by damps and neglect. The subjects were the
adoration of the Magi, the conversion of St. Paul, the martyrdom of St.
Stephen and St. Paul before Felix and Agrippa. Two of these were in the
possession of the King of Sardinia, and two of Louis XIV. of France, who
is said to have offered 100,000 louis d'ors for the seven, which are
justly represented as "the glory of England, and the envy of all other
polite nations." The twelfth, the subject of which was the murder of the
innocents, belonged to a private gentleman in England, who pledged it
for a sum of money; but when the person who had taken this valuable
deposit found it was to be redeemed, he greatly damaged the drawing; for
which the gentleman brought an action against him. A third part of it is
still remaining in the possession of William Hoare, R.A., at Bath.
_Cartoon_ is derived from the Italian _cartone_, a painting or drawing
upon large paper. Raphael died on the same day of the year on which he
was born, Good Friday, in 1520, at the age of thirty-seven, deeply
lamented by all who knew his value. His body lay for awhile in state in
one of the rooms wherein he had displayed the powers of his mind, and he
was honoured with a public funeral; his last produce, the
_transfiguration_, being carried before him in the procession. The
unrelenting hand of death (says his biographer) set a period to his
labours, and deprived the world of further benefit from his talents,
when he had only attained an age at which most other men are but
beginning to be useful. "We see him in his cradle (said Fuseli); we hear
him stammer; but propriety rocked the cradle, and character formed his
lips."