A Flemish Baroque Tapestry, depicting the Life of Paul, from the Acts of the Apostles series, after Cartoons by Raphael, 17th Century

The present tapestry depicts a scene from the Acts of the Apostles, in which Saint Paul strikes the magician Elymas blind after he attempts to prevent the proconsul, Sergius Paulus, from embracing Christianity.

The design of this panel is based on cartoons by the Renaissance master Raphael (1483 - 1520). In 1513, Pope Leo X commissioned Raphael to create a series of tapestry designs for the Sistine Chapel illustrating scenes from the Acts of the Apostles. In response, Raphael and his workshop produced ten full-scale cartoons to serve as models for the weavers.¹ The reproduction of this set by Flemish weavers represented the introduction of Italian Renaissance aesthetics to Northern tapestry production.²

The cartoon for this composition, along with the remaining six surviving examples, is now held in the Royal Collection Trust.

¹https://www.rct.uk/collection/stories/the-raphael-cartoons

² Guy Delmarcel, Flemish Tapestry, New York 1999, p. 86.