To mark Pope Benedict XVI's U.K. visit this month, four early 16th-century tapestries made for the chapel have been loaned to an exhibition at the Victoria and Albert Museum, "Raphael: Cartoons and Tapestries for the Sistine Chapel."
What makes this sensational is that for the first time these tapestries will hang beside the full-sized designs for them, or "cartoons", by Raphael.
The cartoons have resided in the British royal collection for hundreds of years.
ARTKABINETT social network for fine art collectors can view these ornate illustrations which become the models of the tapestries.
View some of the correlating works here and see if you can spot the difference!
Historical Background
The cartoons were commissioned in 1515; the finished textiles woven by 1521. They represented scenes from the lives of St. Peter and St. Paul, and their function was to hang on the lowest section of the chapel walls on special occasions.
They added a touch of lavishness to an already splendid ensemble -- and Raphael a chance to compete with his rival, Michelangelo. Until now, no one -- not even Raphael or his patron, Pope Leo X -- had seen the designs and tapestries together.
The Raphael Cartoons
The Raphael Cartoons were commissioned by Pope Leo X and are among the greatest treasures of the High Renaissance. They are hardly cartoons, but indeed grand colorful paintings.
Painted by Raphael (1483-1520) and his assistants, they are full-scale designs for tapestries that were made to cover the lower walls of the Vatican's Sistine Chapel.
This cartoon, for example, was the model for the tapestry above. Obviously, the Belgian weavers took some artistic liberties. The tapestries depict the Acts of St Peter and St Paul, the founders of the early Christian Church. Between 1516 and 1521.
The compositions were then woven into tapestries at the workshop of Pieter van Aelst in Brussels, the main centre for tapestry production in Europe.
In 1623 the cartoons were brought to England by the Prince of Wales, later Charles I. From 1865 onwards, they have been on loan from the Royal Collection to the V&A.
During the 18th and early 19th centuries, Raphael reached the peak of his reputation, and was widely regarded as the greatest painter in history.
Consequently, the Raphael Cartoons became some of the most famous, and widely imitated, paintings in the world.
Tapestries
In the 16th-century, tapestry, and plenty of it, was an essential possession for a great ruler, which the pope was. To lack tapestry on the walls around you was a humiliation, partly, cynics may note, because the stuff was so expensive.
To give an idea, these tapestries cost roughly five times as much as Michelangelo had been paid a few years before for painting the Sistine Chapel ceiling.
Raphael only got a fraction of that money for his designs; most of it was spent on the costs of labor and materials, especially the gold and silver thread with which costly tapestries sparkled.
Brussels Weavers
The reason why no one had ever seen the cartoons and tapestries together is that the weaving was done in Brussels where the workshops did the best-quality work.
This involved the designs being cut into strips to fit under the looms; as soon as the textiles were ready, they were sent back to Rome.
The Sistine Chapel, or as it was known at the time, the "Great Chapel,î"was where the splendor of the papal court was to be seen at its most glorious.
Some of that magnificence was produced locally -- Michelangelo's frescoes, for example -- other aspects imported. The Sistine choir and composers, the finest in Europe, came mainly from France and Flanders.
The tapestries were an international collaboration: Italian design, Flemish weaving expertise.
When you compare them, you discover the Flemish weavers didn't hesitate to alter Raphael's arrangements.
St. Peter's yellow robe, for example, is transformed to grander red, which looked more sumptuous. Gold and silver thread was introduced where they thought it would add bling. Christ's robe in "Christ's Charge to St. Peterî is covered with silver stars that Raphael hadnít intended.
Luxury Surface
In comparison, the painted cartoons have deeper space, stronger shadows, more air and light. Still, even after centuries of fading the tapestries retain a luxurious surface richness. Which are the originals? Both and neither.
The cartoons were utilitarian objects, intended as a stage in the production process.
By the early 16th century they were just beginning to be collected as works of art. That's why seven out of 10 of these survived (stuck back together again, they were bought by Charles I in the 17th century and are still in the Royal Collection).
The tapestries are variations on a theme: Raphael's ideas interpreted by brilliant craftsmen. There is no need to choose between them.
"Raphael: Cartoons and Tapestries for the Sistine Chapel" at the Victoria and Albert Museum, London, runs through Oct. 17.
courtesy, Marin Gayford
