The so-called Raphael Cartoons are seven full size designs for tapestries by the great Italian Renaissance artist Raphael (1483-1520). They illustrate passages from the Bible concerning the lives of Saint Peter and Saint Paul. None of them is smaller than ten feet high by thirteen feet wide. They belong to Her Majesty the Queen and have been on loan to this museum since 1865. The earliest print relating to the Raphael Cartoons dates from 1516, the year in which Raphael received final payment for the commission. It inaugurates an extraordinary case study in the history of printmaking, stretching over more than four hundred and fifty years and across a wide range of printmaking techniques.

It is possible to make out in this print the positions of four of the tapestries woven from the Cartoons. They are hanging at the bottom of the side walls. On the extreme left is 'The Miraculous Draught of Fishes'. Next to it, nearer the altar, is 'Paul Preaching at Athens'. On the extreme right is 'The Death of Ananias'. Next to it, nearer the altar, is 'The Blinding of Elymas'. Curiously, the tapestry of 'Paul Preaching at Athens' on the left wall seems to be shown the same way round as the corresponding Cartoon, although the weaving process entailed the design being reversed. The tapestries on the right wall are shown the correct way round. Before Michelangelo's fresco of 'The Last Judgement' covering the whole end wall was unveiled in 1541, two of the tapestries would have hung there. The bottom part of the print, which depicts additional attendees and includes a key to the numbered figures, has been cut off.