SSTEIN Research Proj- Raphael’s Cartoons for the Sistine Chapel

V & A (2013) A history of the cartoons. Retrieved from

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Pope Leo commissioned Raphael’s cartoons around 1515. These works of art are among the greatest of the High Renaissance. They were made by Raphael and his assistance in order to cover the lower walls of the Sistine chapel. The tapestries show the founding of the early Christian church. They depict the scenes of St. Peter and St. Paul. After Raphael had created the drawing s for the tapestries they were woven together and sent to the workshop of Pieter van Aelst to be woven. 

All ten of the tapestries emphasize the pre-eminence of the Roman Church and the legitimacy of the papal succession. When Pope Leo commissioned the tapestries from an Italian renaissance artist he was making a bold move.  He did so by combining the Italian Renaissance painting aesthetics and an old Flemish weaving style. 

In 1632 the cartoons seven of the ten cartoons created were bought by Charles 1 of Britain. Charles commissioned a separate set of tapestries based of Raphael’s. For some reason Charles had the tapestries in strips and enclosed in wooden boxes.  They were long kept like this after his death. 

The cartoons went through so much copying and moving that they slowly became damaged. In the nineteenth century they were used at the British Institution in London for students to copy and study which only damaged the cartoons even more. 

Finally in 1875, the Cartoons were moved to a place they could remain protected from further damages. Queen Victoria had the cartoons sent to the South Kensington Museum. Today this museum is known as the Victoria and Albert museum, or (V&A). The cartoons at the V&A are there to stay and remain highly protected as they should have been earlier to prevent damages.