La conversione del proconsole

Soon after the Medici pope Leo X was elected in 1513, he set Raphael to work for the Sistine Chapel. Michelangelo had just finished the ceiling, and Leo wanted woven tapestries to hang along the lower walls beneath it. This huge sheet is one of the full-scale designs Raphael made for the weavers, painted around 1515. The story comes from the Acts of the Apostles. On Cyprus, Saint Paul is brought before the Roman governor, and when a sorcerer named Elymas tries to stop the man from turning Christian, Paul strikes him blind. Elymas gropes at the centre in sudden darkness while the governor watches. The tapestries were woven in Brussels and sent to Rome. The paper designs stayed behind, and have been on loan to this museum from the royal collection since 1865.