Raphael's 10 magnificent
tapestries on the Acts of the Apostles have been brought into
the Sistine Chapel for the first time in 400 years in a special
showing marking the 500th anniversary of the Renaissance
master's death.
The tapestries are usually only displayed on rotation in the
"Raphael Room" at the Vatican Museum, according to the Vatican.
But from this week until Sunday, they are being brought
together to mark the anniversary of the Urbino genius's death.
"We wanted for the celebration of 500 years of Raphael's
death to give the opportunity to share the beauty that is
represented by the tapestry together in this beautiful,
universal place that is the Sistine Chapel," said Barbara Jatta,
director of the Vatican Museums.
Pope Leo X commissioned Raphael to design the tapestries in
1515. Michelangelo had just finished his elaborate work on the
ceiling and the pontiff wanted to ensure the lower walls weren't
bare.
Raphael painted 10 intricate images that depicted the lives
of Saints Peter and Paul, now known as the Raphael Cartoons. The
cartoons were then sent to the workshop of master weaver Pieter
van Aelst in Brussels to be woven into tapestries.
At Aelst's workshop, they were cut into vertical 90
centimeter-wide strips so the weavers could place them under
their looms to recreate the image in thread.
The first tapestries were delivered to the chapel in late
December 1519, however, Raphael died months later and did not
see all the tapestries completed and together.
After Pope Leo X's death in 1521, some of the tapestries were
even pawned to pay off Leo X's debts.
Centuries later, and after a decade of restoration, the
tapestries will hang this week where they were intended, below
Michelangelo's famous Sistine Chapel ceiling and near his "The
Last Judgment."
Raphael and Michelangelo were rivals for the Vatican's
commissions. Michelangelo was known to accuse Raphael, nearly a
decade his junior, of plagiarizing his style.
Only seven of the original cartoons exist and are held at the
Victoria and Albert (V&A) Museum in London, where they have been
preserved since 1865.
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