Four Heads from the Raphael Cartoons at Hampton Court

A plate with an interesting publishing history. In the legend beneath the image, Mrs Jane Hogarth (Thornhill’s daughter), states that the copperplate was found among Hogarth’s possessions after his death, and that he may have engraved them for an intended but unexecuted project of his father-in-law’s. No prints were issued from this copperplate during Hogarth’s lifetime. From 1729 Thornhill had occupied himself with making studies of the Raphael Cartoons, intending to use them to illustrate a treatise on drawing. The four heads are copies from the work called Paul and the Blind Magician Elymas, before Sergius Paulus (now in the Victoria and Albert Museum). Paulson 264 II/II