Religion Justice and Charity
Gallery of St. Pius V
Vatican Museum
Rome Italy
2016


“Religion, Justice and Charity” 1525 by Pieter van Aelst's manufacture

http://romapedia.blogspot.com/2015/02/vatican-museums-gallery-of-st-pius-v.html

Tapestries are made of wool, silk, and silver and gold thread. By using these textile materials, the images take on a beautiful quality due to the shine from the metals and the fabrics used. The most obvious purpose of tapestries was their ornamental value. Tapestry makers were highly sought after and, on many occasions, would make more money than painters.

Besides their beautiful ornamental value, however, there was also a much more practical purpose. They were also used to warm up rooms. In the Early Middle Ages, these tapestries would have adorned the walls of drafty, old stone castles. By hanging this “rug” on the wall, it allowed the heat to be trapped in the fabric and therefore warmed up the room.

In our case in the Sistine Chapel, the tapestries absorbed the heat from the braziers that burned in the chapel. This is why when you enter the Vatican Museums today, it is one of the only rooms with air conditioning.

Woven art
There are about three hundred tapestries in the Vatican Collection – undisputed masterpieces, such as those intended for the Sistine Chapel using cartoons drawn by Raphael, or the precious cloth that portrays Da Vinci’s Last Supper given to the Pope by the King of France. These delicate, priceless works are preserved thanks to the care of expert restorers.

The woven papal throne canopy of pope Clement VII.

Baldachin of Clement VII, designed by Raphael's most important disciples and collaborators.
From the 1500s, and for four centuries, the two tapestries played a key role in some of the major sacred ceremonies that took place at the Papal Court on the occasion of Easter, in particular the Coena Domini Holy Mass and Foot washing, celebrations embraced by all the Catholic courts, including the Court of Savoy. An intriguing story set in the Vatican palace, in St. Peter's Basilica and at the European courts, which still lives on today.