The date of the beginning of the Renaissance tapestries is well defined. In 1515 came the order to Brussels to execute tapestries of _The Acts of the Apostles_ from the cartoons of Raphael. The Pope required them for the Sistine Chapel. This was the beginning of the decline of the art of Flemish tapestry weaving. Raphael was not accustomed to designing cartoons for tapestry. His methods were unsuitable for translation into fabric. He set the _tapissiere_ problems to solve in paint. Only the wonderful skill of the Flemish workmen enabled them to produce tapestries that astonished Europe. But a new method had to be adopted. Raphael had planned out both his cartoons and his borders in every detail. Nothing was left to the _tapissier_ but to copy with the minutest care every line, every shade of colour expressed by the painter. The artist _tapissier_ became under this new fashion only a master craftsman. The most pleasing feature of the Gothic tapestries disappear--the riot of _millefleurs_, and the spasmodic intrusion of fascinating little dogs and wild animals. But if there were losses there were compensating gains. The whole art of the Italian cartoonist was freer, more vital and less stilted than that of his northern neighbour. The crowded figures disappeared and their place was taken by one group accompanied only by a few subordinate figures, but the central figures were perfect in their form. The Gothic buildings of the background gave way to a rich Renaissance architecture. The old woodland flowers were replaced by the luxuriant and exotic verdure of the south. That the methods introduced by Raphael should degenerate in the hands of artists of less genius was inevitable, and in course of time the _tapissier_ was no longer capable of improving the original design. GROUP 18. _The Acts of the Apostles_ (10 Tapestries)