England and the Raphael Cartoons

THE ‘Acts of the Apostles’ tapestry series, designed to be hung on the lower walls of the Sistine Chapel, below Michelangelo’s great ceiling, is one of the most influential works of art of the Italian Renaissance. Commissioned by Pope Leo X in 1514, the tapestries were first hung in 1519. Only 10 pieces are known to have been made, now belonging to the Pinacoteca Vaticana. To produce them, Raphael and his assistants painted 16 full-size designs known as ‘cartoons’ to be sent to Brussels, where they were used by the weavers to create the tapestries. In 1623, Charles I acquired the seven surviving cartoons to use in his tapestry workshop in Mortlake, south-west London. These now belong to the Royal Collection and are on loan to the V&A Museum in London SW7, where they can be admired in the Raphael Court.