TEACHERS' RESOURCES
Raphael: In the Picture
The Raphael Cartoon Court, V&A (click image for larger version)
Raphael's magnificent cartoons (painted designs for tapestries) can be used in many ways to support learning in Art & Design and Design & technology. This resource shows you how to access information about the cartoons on our website and suggests creative projects you can carry out with students in the museum and school which can be adapted for a range of subjects and key stages.
The Raphael gallery at the V&A houses seven enormous designs for tapestries, known as cartoons, painted by Raphael between 1515-16. These are on loan to the V&A from Her Majesty the Queen. They depict scenes from the lives of St Peter and St Paul, many of which are related in the Book of Acts in the Bible; hence the title Acts of the Apostles given to the series.
Raphael, 'The Miraculous Draught of Fishes', 1515-16. V&A Images/The Royal Collection (click image for larger version)
You can view further information and detailed images of the cartoons on this website. If you have access to a whiteboard, you can view these with your students before your visit. A tapestry based on the cartoon on the right is also on display with the cartoons in the Raphael gallery.
The first tapestries made from the cartoons were hung in the Vatican's Sistine Chapel, but subsequently further sets of tapestries continued to be made, up until the eighteenth century. These sets now hang in museums and other institutions around the world. See 'Where to see the tapestries' for details. The Cathedral Church of St John the Divine in New York, the Palazzo Ducale Museum in Urbino, the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna, the Vatican Museums, the Palacio Real in Madrid, and the Staatliche Kunstsammlung Museum in Dresden also participated in the 1997 International Raphael Tapestry project.
The V&A and the Palazzo Ducale Museum in Mantua explored different ways in which UK and international teachers and students could use the cartoons and tapestries in their teaching and learning. This resource is the result of that project.