Wool, silk, color and silver thread: A splendour that emerges from the paintings of Raphael and the art of his tapestry - 500 years on. You can admire Raphael's tapestries and his original designs for them from September 8 to October 17 at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London.  Organized in collaboration with the Vatican Museums, the exhibition is aimed to coincide with Benedict XVI's state visit to Britain in September. The seven original designs, otherwise known as cartoons, were made by Raphael in 1515 and since 1865 they have been in England. For the first time, they will be put on show together with four tapestries which are usually housed in the Vatican Museums. A preview of the tapestries - commissioned by Pope Leo X and depicting the stories of St. Peter and St. Paul - were shown for one night in mid-July in the Sistine Chapel. Present at the showing were Antonio Paolucci, director of the Vatican Museums, Arnold Nesselrath, the museums' scientific director, and Anna Maria De Strobel, the Vatican Museums' curator of tapestries and fabrics. The infinite genius of Raphael: from the heart of the Vatican to the banks of the River Thames.

Wool, silk, color and silver thread: A splendour that emerges from the paintings of Raphael and the art of his tapestry - 500 years on. You can admire Raphael's tapestries and his original designs for...leggi tutto