The miraculous draught of fishes

A photograph of the tapestry illustrating 'The Miraculous Draught of Fishes' now in the Vatican Museums. With Alinari blind stamp in lower right corner. With annotations on the back. Not in Ruland (1876).

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 central scene is flanked by two vertical panels with grotesque decoration, incorporating various motifs including the Medici arms and the papal insignia of Leo X. The right-hand panel is generally known as the 'Border of the Hours'.

The photographed tapestry is one from a set of ten depicting episodes from the lives of St Peter and St Paul, commissioned by Pope Leo X in 1514-15. The tapestry designs were executed by Raphael and his studio 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.