The Raphael Cartoons

The Raphael Cartoons are as famous as the Tapestries for which they were made. Originally, there were ten Tapestry Cartoons, seven of which now remain. The Tapestries were commissioned for the Sistine Chapel, by Pope Leo X, circa 1515. Through time, the Tapestries have been remade. Without doubt, the survival of the original Tapestry Cartoons, of Raphael, have played an important role in their reproduction. The Sistine Chapel Tapestries were last displayed, in their entirety, in 1983. Since their creation, the Cartoons became famous among Artists of the Renaissance, and Baroque periods.

As Raphael knew, the Sistine Chapel Tapestries would, without doubt, be directly compared to the famous Sistine Chapel ceiling. It was thought by many to be the greatest masterpiece of all Michelangelo’s work. The ceiling only being completed around two years beforehand. Also, there must have been the added pressure of knowing, Michelangelo actually disliked, rather provocatively, Raphael. However, regardless of how famous and revered the Sistine Chapel ceiling has become, the admiration for the Sistine Chapel Tapestries, and the Cartoons of Raphael, has earned them incredible acclaim, worldwide.

The Cartoons for the Tapestries are among Raphael’s largest and most complicated designs. However, the Cartoons for the Sistine Chapel Tapestries do not have the same intricate detail, which Raphael is so famous for producing, within his Paintings. This is because Raphael understood, preparatory Cartoons for Tapestry Wall Hangings need bold composition, not finicky detail. It is known that ten cartoons, and ten Tapestries, were produced. However, originally, the Sistine Chapel Tapestries were to be a sixteen piece set.

Records show that Raphael was paid one thousand ducats for the Tapestry Cartoons. The Tapestries themselves cost much more to produce. The cost was, in fact, fifteen thousand ducats. Therefore, the Sistine Chapel Tapestries cost five times more than the ceiling, and this was a huge sum of money (for the day), by anyone’s accounts. The Tapestry Cartoons are just over three meters high, and between three and five meters wide. A Tapestry is always worked on from the reverse side. Therefore, the Sistine Chapel Tapestries are also a reverse image of Raphael’s Cartoons.

Raphael did seem to understand many aspects of Tapestry production; reducing detail; emphasising structure and composition. Even so, the Tapestries were subtle with regards to color. However, Raphael’s Paintings were always subtle, and sensitive, with regards to color. It must be remembered, Raphael was not a Tapestry Artist. He was commissioned to produce Cartoons for a set of Tapestries. Simply, because Tapestry weavers were capable of producing more color tones, does not mean that he would use them, just for the sake of it. Raphael had his own sensitivity, and it was this acute perceptiveness that made him one of the great masters.

The Sistine Chapel Tapestries depict scenes from the Gospels, namely, Saint Peter and Saint Paul. Raphael’s Cartoons for the Tapestries were painted, with glue distemper, onto many layers of paper, which were also glued together. Today, the Cartoons have been mounted onto Canvas and are permanently displayed at the Victoria and Albert Museum, in London. The original set of Sistine Chapel tapestries were woven in Brussels, at the workshops of Pieter Van Aelst. This was where all the Tapestries, produced for the Vatican, were woven. Later, several other sets, of the same Tapestries, would be woven including a set for Francois I, King of France, and the English King, Henry VIII.

It was Charles I who bought Raphael’s Cartoons for the Sistine Chapel Tapestries. At the time, Charles was still the Prince of Wales, not yet King. He was rather flighty about the purchase, and used an agent to secure the Cartoons, for the low price of three hundred pounds. The Tapestries were made, for Charles, in Morlake, a London district, on a low warp Loom, for five hundred pounds. Afterwards, the Cartoons were placed in storage, at the Banqueting Hall in Whitehall. Somewhat curiously, and thankfully, Oliver Cromwell did not sell off the Raphael Cartoons. However, three of them did go amiss at this time. The Cartoons Raphael produced, for the Sistine Chapel Tapestries, have been studied by many Artists over time. They played a huge role in England, with regards to the development of English Art. Especially during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, when they were described as "the Parthenon sculptures of modern art".

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