The Raphael Cartoons: From design to making the tapestries

This film reveals the complex process of designing the Raphael Cartoons and their translation into tapestries.

The Raphael Cartoons are a set of seven full-scale cartoons for tapestries. They belong to the British Royal Collection. However, the Cartoons have been loaned to V & A (Victoria and Albert Museum) in London from Her Majesty The Queen since 1865.

The Cartoons depict the lives of the apostles Saint Peter and Saint Paul.

Pope Leo X commissioned Raphael to design these tapestries in 1515 for the Sistine Chapel in the Vatican Palace.

Raphael, with full name, was Raffaello Sanzio da Urbino (1483 - 1520), an Italian painter and architect. He is one of the most famous masters of the Renaissance.

The tapestries were made with both gold and silver thread. They were to be woven in the workshop of Pieter van Aelst in Brussels.

They are the only surviving members among ten cartoons painted in 1515–16 by the High Renaissance artist Raphael.

The tapestries were hung in the Sistine Chapel on feast days, below Michelangelo's famous ceiling.

Some of them were burnt in 1527 by soldiers in the Sack of Rome for the purpose of extracting precious metals.

The seven Raphael Cartoons:

Raphael Cartoon, The Miraculous Draught of Fishes (Luke 5: 1 – 11).
Raphael Cartoon, Christ's Charge to Peter (Matthew 16: 18 – 19 & John 21: 15 – 17)
Raphael Cartoon, The Conversion of the Proconsul also known as The Blinding of Elymas (Acts 13: 6 – 12)
Raphael Cartoon, The Death of Ananias (Acts 5: 1 – 5)
Raphael Cartoon, The Healing of the Lame Man (Acts 3: 1 – 8)
Raphael Cartoon, Paul Preaching at Athens (Acts 17: 16 – 34)
Raphael Cartoon, The Sacrifice at Lystra (Acts 14: 8 – 18)