Head of a bearded man

A photograph of a drawing now in the Christ Church Picture Gallery, Oxford. The drawing is a fragment from the cartoon for the tapestry of ‘The Adoration of the Shepherds’, one from a twelve-piece set depicting scenes from the Life of Christ, traditionally known as the ‘Scuola Nuova’ (eleven of which survive today in the Vatican Museums). The ‘Scuola Nuova’ set was probably commissioned by Pope Leo X, but the project seems to have been reactivated by Clement VII after his election as pope in 1523. Apparently designed by Raphael’s former assistants after the death of the master (perhaps incorporating some models by Raphael himself), the tapestries were woven in the workshop of Pieter van Aelst and completed by 1531, when the set was delivered to Rome. Ruland (1876) seemed to accept the view that the ‘Scuola Nuova’ set was a gift to Leo X from Francis I on the occasion of the canonization of Francesco di Paola in 1519; this view has been recently rejected. For further discussion, see Bibliographic References.