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Secondary sourcePainting1515

St Paul Preaching at Athens

Raphael · 1515

A Renaissance tapestry cartoon by Raphael showing Paul delivering his sermon on the Areopagus to a crowd of Athenians.

Depicts Paul delivering his famous sermon on the Areopagus to the people of Athens.

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Painting of a bearded man in a green robe and red cloak raising his arms on a stone platform, addressing a crowd of seated and standing people in a classical colonnaded setting. A bronze-like armored statue stands on a pedestal at right.
Raphael, St Paul Preaching at Athens, tapestry cartoon, 1515. Victoria and Albert Museum.

About this source

What it is

This painting is one of Raphael's tapestry cartoons created in 1515 for the Sistine Chapel. It shows a bearded man in a green robe and red cloak raising his arms as he addresses a crowd on a stone platform amid classical columns and statues. It is now held in the Victoria and Albert Museum's prints, drawings and paintings collection.

Why it matters

The scene pictures the apostle Paul preaching to the Athenians, recast by Raphael as a classical orator in a Greek city of temples and statues. It shows how Renaissance artists imagined early Christian history through the lens of ancient Rome and Greece, blending biblical story with classical setting.

Look closer

  • What does the pose and gesture of the central figure suggest about how he is speaking?
  • Why might Raphael have placed a statue in the scene, and what might it represent?
  • How does the classical architecture shape our idea of where this event happened?

This painting is part of the curated material that grounds the AI version of Saint Paul and Raphael on Humy.ai — when students ask about related events, the AI can quote it and cite it.

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