Raffaello (1483-1520)
Consegna delle chiavi del Regno (Christ’s Charge to Peter)
c.1515–1516
Bodycolour over charcoal underdrawing on paper, mounted on canvas, 344 x 534
Victoria and Albert Museum, London
Acquired by the Prince of Wales, future King Charles I in 1623
Lent by His Majesty The King
Christ’s Charge to Peter (Matthew 16: 18-19, John 21: 15-17)
The Raphael Cartoons are designs for tapestries and were commissioned from Raphael by Pope Leo X (reg. 1513-21) shortly after his election in 1513. The tapestries were intended to hang in the Sistine Chapel in Rome, built by one of Leo‘s predecessors Pope Sixtus IV (reg. 1471-84). The Chapel was primarily intended for the use of the Pope and the body of clergy and Laity immediately surrounding him. The decoration of the chapel under Sixtus addressed the lives of Moses and Christ. The tapestries continued this theme, illustrating scenes from the lives of St. Peter and St. Paul who were seen as the founders of the Christian Church, and reinforcing the legitimity of the Pope’s authority and power. The resulting tapestries had in addition woven borders showing scenes from Leo‘s life and from the lives of Saint Paul, also designed by Raphael: the cartoons for these have not survived.
The scene combines two different episodes described in the Bible from before and after the Resurrection, when Christ charges Peter with the care of the faithful, symbolised by the sheep, and gives him the keys to the Gates of Heaven. Peter is made the foundation stone of the Church, and Christ’s first vicar on earth. (V&A)