Recent Study of Raphaels Early

Paintings in the National Gallery, London,

with Infrared Reflectography
Rachel Billinge
Conservation Department of The National Gallery, London

right, and in the back of the skirt of the figure on the right.
Even where the actual dots no longer remain, the style of the
underdrawing revealed is typical of a drawing based on a
cartoon transfer, with simple rather schematic outlines.
Raphael was meticulous in his pricking of cartoons, using
large numbers of closely spaced holes along every outline to
produce an exceptionally complete replica of the cartoon
on the panel, but after the basic design had been transferred
he always elaborated the underdrawing further, adding
hatching for shadows and making changes freehand.7 For
example he added a tiny group of buildings to the left of the
central tree, level with the bridge; and a lovely free squiggle,
presumably intending to signify bushes, in the distant landscape above the bridge on the right.
The slight differences between the finished painting and
the cartoon are well known, the most significant being the
changes to the necklines of the two female figures and the
replacement of a little bridge below the arm of the figure on
the left with a group of horsemen. Plesters examination of
the infrared photograph led her to conclude that in details

he technical examination of paintings by Raphael in

the National Gallery is not a new study and much
has already been written about them, not least Joyce
Plesters paper at the Princeton Raphael Symposium of
1983, which gave a very thorough description of what she
had discovered about the paintings at that time.1 Since she
studied them some of the paintings have been cleaned, and
equipment and techniques for examination of paintings
have advanced enormously in the last 20 years, so it was
good that the preparations for the exhibition at the National
Gallery, Raphael: from Urbino to Rome (20th October
200416th January 2005) provided the stimulus to look
again at all of the paintings, and to conduct a full study with
infrared reflectography.
Each of the National Gallery paintings in the exhibition
was systematically studied with a vidicon and full infrared
reflectogram mosaics were made of all except the Portrait of
Pope Julius (NG 27) and the two large altarpieces.2 Discussions of the underdrawings found in The Garvagh Madonna
(NG 744) and The Procession to Calvary (NG 2919) have
recently been published and The Madonna of the Pinks (NG
6596) is discussed by Ashok Roy in this volume3 so this
paper will concentrate on four other works which produced
interesting results.

An Allegory (Vision of a Knight) NG 213

The National Gallery is particularly fortunate in owning
two works for which pricked cartoons survive. 4 When
Plesters discussed the Vision of a Knight (Fig. 1) in 1983 she
had been unable to find any evidence of pouncing in the
infrared photograph and was forced to conclude that the
pricking of the cartoon was for some other purpose,5 however the new infrared reflectogram mosaic shows clearly that
the underdrawing for the Vision of a Knight is based on
pouncing (Fig. 2).6
The pounced dots have been joined up using paint or ink
and only show where they have been trapped by the line, for
example in the outlines of the hills in the background on the
Fig. 1 Raphael, Vision of a Knight, The National Gallery, London, NG 213,
about 1504, oil on poplar, 17.5 x 17.3 cm.

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RAPHAELS PAINTING TECHNIQUE: WORKING PRACTICES BEFORE ROME

2
Fig. 2 Raphael, Vision of a Knight, The National Gallery, London, NG 213. Full infrared reflectogram mosaic.

such as the necklines of the dresses or the substitution of the

horsemen for the bridge, , the underdrawing revealed in
the painting corresponds to the final painted image and not
to the drawing on paper.8 The new infrared reflectogram
mosaic however, shows that the underdrawing actually follows the cartoon very closely and the main changes are not
underdrawn. With one exception every pricked line in the
cartoon can be seen in the infrared reflectogram mosaic,
including the scalloped collar of the figure on the left. The
lower, beaded neckline of the figure on the right was never
pricked and does not feature in the underdrawing. The one
exception is the little bridge which is pricked for transfer but
of which no sign could be found with infrared reflectography. Presumably the decision to dispense with the bridge

68

and substitute the horsemen was made quite early and it

was either never pounced onto the panel or the spolveri
were brushed away before the stage of fixing with a wet
line.
The freehand changes to the underdrawing can also be
seen, drawn but not pricked, on the cartoon; possibly the ideas
were tried out first on the paper and then copied onto the
panel, or perhaps added to the cartoon after having been made
on the panel as a reminder. Most of the changes however seem
to have been made during painting without any further underdrawing, at which stage other delicate details such as the flowers held by the figure on the right and in her hair were added.

RECENT STUDY OF RAPHAELS EARLY PAINTINGS IN THE NATIONAL GALLERY, LONDON, WITH INFRARED REFLECTOGRAPHY

Fig. 3 Raphael, Saint Catherine of Alexandria, The National Gallery,

London, NG 168, about 1507, oil on wood, 72.2 x 55.7 cm.
Fig. 4 Raphael, Saint Catherine, NG 168. Detal from infrared reflectogram
mosaic, showing head and right shoulder.
Fig. 5 Raphael, Saint Catherine, NG 168. Detail from infrared reflectogram
mosaic showing the drapery to the left of her left hand.

Saint Catherine of Alexandria (NG 168)

The second National Gallery painting for which a cartoon survives is Saint Catherine of Alexandria (Fig. 3). The
cartoon, in black chalk with touches of white chalk on four
sheets of beige paper pasted together, is pricked for transfer
along the outlines.9 When Plesters studied the painting for
the Princeton Symposium she only had IR photographs to
help her and reported that the underdrawing consisted of
smooth, thin lines, with no sign of spolveri.10 The fact that
the Paris cartoon was used for the National Gallery painting
has been much more difficult to prove than was the case for
the Vision of a Knight and wouldnt have been possible at all
without the help and generosity of the curators and scientists
at the Louvre. The correlation of sizes between the two was

tested first, by taking a tracing of the figure in the painting

over to France and laying it over the drawing. Apart from the
angle of the head the two were found to match so closely
that a second tracing was made, this time a map of all the
pricked holes in the cartoon.11 This was brought back to London and when the picture was re-examined with infrared
reflectography, with the help of the map it was possible to
find a few traces of spolveri (although it has to be said that,
had we not had such good reasons to believe in them, they
would probably have been rejected as not sufficiently distinct from the spots caused by bubbles in the gesso).
Far more compelling as an argument for the use of the
cartoon is that virtually every line in the cartoon that was
pricked can be seen in the underdrawing, even where
Raphael then went on to make changes so that the lines are
not followed in the paint (Fig. 4). Most obvious is the knot on
the Saints shoulder in the cartoon, which does appear,
although in a truncated form, in the underdrawing but was
never painted.
In the drapery beside Saint Catherines left hand there are
a number of changes for example the folds in the yellow
lining of the cloak are drawn roughly horizontal in the cartoon but painted falling diagonally to the left. In infrared
reflectography the horizontal lines from the cartoon can be
seen crossing the drawing for the folds as painted (Fig.5). In

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RAPHAELS PAINTING TECHNIQUE: WORKING PRACTICES BEFORE ROME

6
Fig. 6 Raphael, The Crucified Christ with the Virgin Mary, Saints and Angels (The Mond Crucifixion), National Gallery,
London, NG3943, about 15023, oil on poplar, 283.3 x 167.3.

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RECENT STUDY OF RAPHAELS EARLY PAINTINGS IN THE NATIONAL GALLERY, LONDON, WITH INFRARED REFLECTOGRAPHY

the final painting Raphael added extra folds as the dress is

pushed up slightly against the cloak. The changes in the
drapery folds were underdrawn freehand. The lines appear
broader and darker than those relating to the cartoon perhaps because they are in a different material or possibly, as
this is a change, they may be closer to the surface in the
layer structure.12

The Crucified Christ with the Virgin Mary,

Saints and Angels (The Mond Crucifixion)
NG 3943
The Mond Crucifixion is a relatively early work, painted
about 15023 (Fig. 6), and much larger in scale than anything so far discussed, standing almost three meters high
(actual size 283.3 x 167.3 cm). Underdrawing is visible in
many places in normal light and infrared photography produces excellent images of the underdrawing where the paint
is penetrated. For example the Magdalens pink drapery
shows simple linear drawing, clearly in a liquid medium
(Fig. 7). The lack of major changes and the simple, formulaic
nature of the drawing is typical of Raphaels underdrawings
made from cartoons but despite careful examination, no
evidence could be found of squaring or of registration lines
for a cartoon and no pouncing was seen, so that the method
used for transferring the design to the panel is still not
known. For this picture, infrared reflectography did not add
a great deal to what was already known except to highlight
one interesting anomaly. In infrared reflectography some of
the underdrawing clearly visible in normal light disappears,
while other areas of underdrawing show clearly. Figures 8

Fig. 7 Raphael, The Mond Crucifixion. IR photograph of the Magdalens

pink drapery.
Fig. 8 Raphael, The Mond Crucifixion. Detail of left foot of angel in green.
Fig. 9 Raphael, The Mond Crucifixion. Infrared reflectogram mosaic detail
of left foot of angel in green.

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RAPHAELS PAINTING TECHNIQUE: WORKING PRACTICES BEFORE ROME

10

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RECENT STUDY OF RAPHAELS EARLY PAINTINGS IN THE NATIONAL GALLERY, LONDON, WITH INFRARED REFLECTOGRAPHY

13
Fig. 10 Raphael, The Madonna and Child with Saint John the Baptist and
Saint Nicholas of Bari (The Ansidei Madonna), The National Gallery,
London, NG 1171, 1505, oil on poplar, panel size 245 x 157 cm.
11

Fig. 11 Raphael, The Ansidei Madonna, IR photograph showing

underdrawing in St Johns drapery.
Fig. 12 Raphael, The Ansidei Madonna, NG1171. Infrared reflectogram
mosaic detail showing the Christ Child.
Fig. 13 Raphael, The Ansidei Madonna, NG1171. Infrared reflectogram
mosaic detail showing the head of Saint Nicholas of Bari.

and 9 show the left foot of the angel in green. In normal light
underdrawing can be seen all around the foot, but in
infrared reflectography there is clear drawing for the toes but
it does not continue up the leg. The fact that some of the
underdrawing disappears in infrared reflectography and
some does not (although looking the same in normal light
where visible) suggests that two different materials have
been used; the one that disappears is probably iron gall ink
while the other is a carbon-containing black. The almost
random choice of one or other material (both being used in
the same figure sometimes, for example Christ, whose drawing disappears in his arms and hands but does not in his loin
cloth or knees) suggests that the artist was not particular as
to which black ink he used for the drawing of a particular
area, but just used whatever was to hand.

The Madonna and Child with Saint John

the Baptist and Saint Nicholas of Bari (The
Ansidei Madonna) NG 1171

12

The Ansidei Madonna is another large panel (245 x 157

cm), and dates from 1505 (Fig. 10). It has been known for
some time that there is a regular grid incised under the paint
of The Ansidei Madonna13 and it has been suggested that

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RAPHAELS PAINTING TECHNIQUE: WORKING PRACTICES BEFORE ROME

the grid was used to help copy a squared drawing onto the
panel. However recent investigations have cast doubt on
this theory, which in any case was fairly unlikely since the
squares are rather too large to be useful guides to copying.
Again infrared photographs are helpful to show the nature of
the underdrawing, revealing drawing not dissimilar to that
seen in the Mond Crucifixion with simple outlines of folds in
the drapery, in a liquid medium, but here elaborated with
some hatching (Fig. 11). In the Virgin and Child group clear
signs of pouncing were found, the dots have been joined
and most of them brushed away leaving the simple drawing.
Figure 12 is an infrared reflectogram mosaic detail of the
Child showing the simple linear drawing typical of a transfer
from a cartoon and some of the spolveri around his hands
and legs. As ever with Raphael there are changes to these
figures the Childs head has been changed and his eyes
moved, and in the lower half of his body the arm and hand
and the legs have been changed. No spolveri could be found
anywhere in the figure of Saint John but the underdrawing is
so similar in style to that for the Virgin that it is certain he too
was based on a cartoon. Saint Nicholas of Bari is different.
The underdrawing (Fig. 13) is much freer and the lines look
much finer in the infrared reflectogram. The drawing in the
face shows aspects of Raphaels interest in geometry and
volume drawing the curves of the cheekbones, and the
structure of the nose for example, which is similar to the
kind of drawing seen later in The Garvagh Madonna.14
It would therefore appear that Raphael used a mixture of
techniques when assembling The Ansidei Madonna on its
panel. The key figures of the Virgin and Child had a cartoon,

74

as did Saint John. Whether Saint Nicholas was drawn entirely freehand or had a simpler cartoon which needed more
elaborate reworking on the panel is not clear, but infrared
reflectography and x-radiography show that significant
changes were made to this figure quite late in the pictures
development he was initially bare headed and wearing
shorter robes which revealed his ankles. The grid may not
have been used for freehand copying of the underdrawing
but would have helped in establishing the geometry of the
composition, the scale to which the cartoons must be made,
and in positioning the cartoons on the panel.

Conclusion
The National Gallerys nine paintings by Raphael provide
a useful sample of the different types of work he was pursuing in his early career including as it does small secular
and devotional works as well as large altarpieces. What
comes out of their study with infrared reflectography,
together with study of the related drawings, is a picture of a
man for whom design was crucial, who worked in a systematic and controlled way with meticulous care drawing and
re-drawing until the design was right then making use of
methods of mechanical transfer to ensure that a successful
design was accurately reproduced (not just between paper
and panel but also at intermediate stages between studies).
But significantly this method of working did allow flexibility
and at every stage we see small alterations and improvements as well as larger changes, right through to the final
applications of paint.

RECENT STUDY OF RAPHAELS EARLY PAINTINGS IN THE NATIONAL GALLERY, LONDON, WITH INFRARED REFLECTOGRAPHY

Notes and references

1.

2.

Plesters J., Technical Aspects of Some Paintings by Raphael in the National Gallery, London in The Princeton Raphael Symposium: Science in the
Service of Art History, Princeton Monographs in Art and Archaeology
XLVII, Shearman J. and Hall M.B. eds, Princeton, New Jersey 1990, pp.
1537 and figs. 129. Publications of the most recent new work can be
found in Chapman H., Henry T. and Plazzotta C., et. al., Raphael: From
Urbino to Rome, exh. cat., National Gallery, London 2004; Roy A., Spring
M. and Plazzotta C., Raphaels Early Work in the National Gallery: Paintings before Rome, National Gallery Technical Bulletin, 25, 2004, pp.
435 (especially pp. 57 for underdrawing); and in the contributions by
M. Spring and A. Roy in this volume. Other publications containing information about technical examinations of National Gallery Raphaels
include Dunkerton J., Foister S., Gordon D. and Penny N., Giotto to
Drer: Early Renaissance Painting in The National Gallery, New Haven
and London 1991 (especially pp. 169170); Dunkerton J., Foister S. and
Penny N., Drer to Veronese: Sixteenth-Century Painting in The National
Gallery, New Haven and London 1999 (especially pp. 225231); Braham
A. and Wyld M., Raphaels S. John the Baptist Preaching, National
Gallery Technical Bulletin, 8, 1984, pp. 1523; Penny N., Raphaels
Madonna dei garofani rediscovered, Burlington Magazine, CXXXIV,
1992, pp. 6681; and Dunkerton J. and Penny N., The Infra-red Examination of Raphaels Garvagh Madonna, National Gallery Technical Bulletin, 14, 1993, pp. 621; (and see also note 3 below).
Infrared reflectography was carried out using a Hamamatsu C2400 camera with an N2606 series infrared vidicon tube. The camera is fitted with
a 36mm lens to which a Kodak 87A Wratten filter has been attached to
exclude visible light. The infrared reflectogram mosaics were assembled
on a computer using Vips-ip software. For further information about the
software see the Vips website at www.vips.ecs.soton.ac.uk.

3.

Plazzotta C., Raphael, The Madonna and Child with the Infant Baptist
(The Garvagh Madonna) in Art in the Making: Underdrawings in Renaissance Paintings, ed. Bomford D., exh. cat., National Gallery, London,
2002, pp. 128135; Plazzotta C., Raphael, The Procession to Calvary in
Art in the Making: Underdrawings in Renaissance Paintings, ed. Bomford
D., exh. cat., National Gallery, London 2002, pp. 122127.

4.

A cartoon also exists for the Mackintosh Madonna (NG 2069) but the

painting is in such a poor condition that technical examination was not

attempted. The cartoon for the Vision of a Knight, which was acquired at
the same time as the picture, used to hang alongside. It is now in the care
of The British Museum (1994-5-14-57).
5.

The implication is that although the drawing on paper may well be

Raphaels preparatory drawing for the painted panel, its use as a punched
cartoon seems more likely to have been for the purpose of making a copy
either of the drawing itself or of the painted panel. Plesters J., in Shearman and Hall, 1990, cited in note 1, p. 18.

6.

Confirmation of the presence of dots from pouncing was first published in

Dunkerton J., et al, 1991, cited in note 1, pp. 169170.

7.

Raphaels use of cartoons is discussed in Bambach C., Drawing and Painting in the Italian Renaissance Workshop. Theor y and Practice,
13001600, Cambridge 1999, pp. 1415. For discussion of his use of a
cartoon for The Procession to Calvary (NG 2919) see Plazzotta C., in
Bomford D., ed. cited in note 3, pp. 124127.

8.

Plesters J., in Shearman and Hall, 1990, op. cit. in note 1, p. 18.

9.

Dpartement des Arts Graphiques, Muse du Louvre, Paris, inv. 3871.

See Chapman, Henry and Plazzotta cited in note 1, p. 231.

10. Plesters J., in Shearman and Hall, 1990, cited in note 1, p. 25.
11. This work was carried out by C. Plazzotta, J. Dunkerton and T. Henry,
with the kind assistance of Catherine Goguel of the Dpartement des Arts
Graphiques at the Louvre.
12. None of the limited number of paint samples from this picture contain
any underdrawing so it has not been possible to determine where in the
layer structure it lies, but a difference such as this could be explained if
the first drawing were under the priming and the changes applied over it.
13. A note of 1938 describing the grid together with a diagram is in the
National Gallery history dossier on the painting. Some incisions are visible in raking light. For a full discussion of the new findings see Cooper D.
and Plazzotta C., Raphaels Ansidei altarpiece in the National Gallery,
Burlington Magazine, CXLVI, 2004, pp. 720731.
14. Plazzotta C., in Bomford D., ed. 2002, cited in note 3, pp. 128135,
especially fig. 224.

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