In Modern Painters III ( Works, 5.81) Ruskin refers to 'that infinite monstrosity and hypocrisy - Raphael 's Cartoon of the The Charge to Peter'. He argues that it is 'a mere lie'. The hair and the clothes and the sandals are inappropriate to men who have been out all night in the sea mists and on the slimy decks. It is set in a pleasant Italian landscape, full of villas and churches and a flock of sheep to be pointed at. Ruskin concludes that the 'simple truth is that the moment we look at the picture we feel our belief in the whole thing taken away' ( Works, 5.81).
Ruskin adds that Raphael's Cartoon of The Charge to Peter is a lie to serve the 'papal heresy of Petric supremacy'.