Pinacoteca: Tapestries by Pieter Van Aelst

Private Tours of the Vatican Museums

Christ's Charge to Peter (Tapestry), 466 x 634 cm.

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The Pinacoteca (Picture Gallery) is home to ten large tapestries (1516-21), which were woven in Brussels in the workshop of Pieter van Aelst (c.1495-c.1560). The designs for the tapestries were provided by Raphael (1483-1520) and his assistants, who created a series of full scale cartoons (seven of which survive). 

The tapestries, which were commissioned in 1515 by Pope Leo X (r. 1513-21) and depict scenes from the lives of St Peter and St Paul, were made to be hung (albeit only on special occasions) in the Sistine Chapel. 

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Miraculous Draught of the Fishes (Tapestry), 493 x 440 cm.

Miraculous Draught of the Fishes (Cartoon), 319 x 399 cm.

Death of Ananias (Tapestry)

Death of Ananias (Cartoon)

Conversion of Saul (Tapestry)