Raphael Tapestries, 'Cartoons'

From ZENIT:

Four of the tapestries Raphael designed for the Sistine Chapel will go on display this week alongside the drawings that were the models for the weavings.

The Victoria and Albert Museum (V&A) announced the display, to begin Wednesday and run through mid-October. The drawings (called "cartoons") for the tapestries have been on display at the V&A since 1865 but this will be the first time that the cartoons and tapestries have been displayed together -- something Raphael himself never witnessed.

The tapestries were commissioned in 1515; Raphael was asked to make drawings of Sts. Peter and Paul to complete the Sistine Chapel but in a medium quite unlike Michelangelo's.

The cartoons are the same size as the final project (more than 11 feet by 17 feet) and are mirror images of the tapestries, since they were woven from the back .. MORE>>