Tapestry based on Raphael cartoon: Paul preaching at Athens

This is one of three large tapestries in Glencairn’s collection based on a set of designs painted by the Renaissance artist Raphael (1483-1520). Raphael’s ten original paintings or “cartoons” were commissioned by Pope Leo X to make tapestries to hang on the lower portion of the walls of the Sistine Chapel in the Vatican Palace. The scene illustrated in this tapestry shows Paul, standing with raised arms at right, preaching to the Epicurean and Stoic philosophers of Athens on the subject of God and Christ (Act 17:22-23). (See External Link.)

Sources:
- Jack Hinton, “History Repeating: The Story of Glencairn Museum’s Acts of the Apostles Tapestries,” _Glencairn Museum News_, Number 2, 2023.