The miraculous draught of fishes

A print after the tapestry illustrating 'The Miraculous Draught of Fishes', one of a set of ten tapestries commissioned by Pope Leo X for the Sistine Chapel. Lettered with artists' and printer's names below image. With coat of arms at lower centre, and head of Jesus at lower right (detail from the tapestry). State without dedication. Annotated in pencil on the back. Not in Ruland (1876). Described as from Pietro de Brognoli's series of prints after Raphael's Stanze frescoes and Sistine Chapel tapestries dated 1874 (Höper 2001).

The central scene illustrates the calling of the fishermen Peter and Andrew on the Lake of Galilee (Luke 5:1-10). Beneath is a fictive relief depicting two scenes from the life of Leo X. The vertical borders at either side - incorporating the three Theological Virtues of Faith, Hope and Charity – are derived from the panel woven at the right of the tapestry of ‘The Death of Ananias’.

The tapestry designs, illustrating episodes from the lives of St Peter and St Paul, were commissioned from Raphael by Pope Leo X and transported to Flanders, where the tapestries were woven in the Brussels workshop of Pieter van Aelst. Seven of the tapestry cartoons survive, now in the Victoria and Albert Museum on loan from the Royal Collection. The ten original tapestries, intended to be hung in the Sistine Chapel, are housed in the Vatican Museums.