Raphael Cartoons

What it is

These are seven surviving large paintings on paper, made by Raphael in 1515-1516 as designs, or cartoons, for a set of tapestries. Pope Leo X commissioned the tapestries for the Sistine Chapel, and the cartoons were sent to weavers in Brussels who cut them into strips to work from. The cartoons now belong to the British Royal Collection and have been on long-term loan to the Victoria and Albert Museum since 1865.

Why it matters

Created to be displayed beneath Michelangelo's recently finished Sistine Chapel ceiling, these designs were meant to rival it in ambition. The tapestries made from them became hugely influential across Europe and were studied by generations of later artists, including Nicolas Poussin. The cartoons reveal how Raphael planned large, complex compositions for a different medium made by other craftsmen, showing his working process and the scale of collaboration behind Renaissance art.

Look closer

• Why would Raphael design something that other craftsmen, not he, would turn into the final artwork?
• What does the size and detail of these cartoons suggest about how seriously the project was taken?
• Why might the tapestries have been seen as rivalling Michelangelo's ceiling?