This image represents the earlier of the two Miraculous Draughts of Fishes mentioned in the bible. Christ, Peter and another disciple sit in Peter's boat, which is full of fish. In a second boat are three more disciples pulling in their net. The boats are low in the lake because of the large haul of fish.

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.

This print is thought by some writers to be based on a drawing in the Royal Collection which is by Raphael's pupil Gionvanni Francesco Penni. Some of the details which form such a striking part of the Cartoon such as the fish in the boats and the birds in the foreground are absent in both the drawing and the print. Andrea Andreani who reissued this print in 1609, must have got hold of the original blocks and added Raphael's name, and his own monogram and city of residence, to the image.