The Presentation of Jesus at the Temple
Scuola Nuova (New School)
The Life of Christ
Vatican City
Rome Italy
2016

The Galleria degli Arazzi (Gallery of the Tapestries) is home to two sets of tapestries. The oldest set, and by far the most important, is the Scuola Nuova, so called to distinguish them from the much more famous set of tapestries in the Pinacoteca, which were designed by Raphael (1483-1520).

The seven tapestries which make up the Scuola Nuova were designed by pupils of Raphael, such as Giulio Romano (1499-1546), and executed between 1524 and 1531 in the Brussels workshop of the master-weaver Pieter van Aelst. The tapestries depict:

• The Adoration of the Shepherds
• The Presentation of Jesus at the Temple
• The Massacre of the Innocents (two tapestries)
• The Apparition of Christ to St Mary Magdalene
• The Resurrection of Christ
• The Supper at Emmaus

The much inferior set of tapestries on the opposite wall depict scenes from the life of Pope Urban VIII (r. 1623-44), who was a member of the Barberini family. The tapestries were executed in Rome by a workshop founded in 1627 by Cardinal Francesco Barberini, the pope's nephew. The workshop closed shortly after the death of the cardinal in 1676.