Handing-over the Keys
by RAFFAELLO Sanzio, Tempera on paper, mounted on canvas, 345 x 535 cm
The largest task Raphael undertook in the course of 1515 was the preparation of the cartoons for the tapestries for the Sistine Chapel depicting the Stories of Saints Peter and Paul. Charles I bought the cartoons when still the Prince of Wales, not yet King. He used an agent to secure the cartoons for the low price of three hundred pounds. The resulting tapestries were woven for Charles in Mortlake by the River Thames on a low warp loom for five hundred pounds. The cartoons are now in the Victoria and Albert Museum in London.