Vatican Museums

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Raphael Rooms

Room of Heliodorus, fresco(Stanze di Raffaello) (1508-17). Raphael was 25 when Pope Julius II della Rovere brought him from Central Italy to decorate the new apartments he had chosen in order to get away from the rooms where his hated predecessor Alexander VI Borgia had lived.

Julius represented a new departure, a Renaissance man steeped in the classics who welcomed an expression of the Church's links to the past.


Room 1, Hall of Constantine

(Stanza 1, di Costantino) (1517-24). Frescoes by Raphael's assistants, based on his sketches, show Emperor Constantine's awakening to Christianity and his victory over his predecessor Maxentius at Ponte Milvio.

Chapel of Nicholas V is through the door in the adjoining Room of the “chiaroscuri”. This little gem has frescoes (1447-51) by Fra Angelico - the vanguard of Florence's Renaissance, imported to Rome 60 years before Raphael - with scenes of Saints Stephen and Lawrence. MUST see the “trompe l'oeil” brocade that the exuberant monk painted at the base of the walls.


Room 2, Room of Heliodorus

(Stanza 2, di Eliodoro) (1508-14). All frescoes by Raphael and all placing the Pope in a historical context that defies chronology but emphasizes spiritual continuity.

-“The Miracle of Lake Bolsena” shows consecrated bread, its blood oozing onto an altar cloth, being shown to a pilgrim-priest who had doubts about Christianity.

-Attila the Hun, on his black horse, being chased from Rome by Pope Leo I assisted by Saints Peter and Paul. Note the Colosseum and aqueduct.
Of course, Attila never got near Rome, but Raphael is philosophically an idealist although artistically a realist. The key figure of Leo I was originally a portrait of Julius II, but after this pope's death, Raphael painted in his successor, Leo X Medici. He left another likeness of this Medici pontiff in the background (the one with the red hat in the left foreground) - making this a double portrait of his new patron.

-“The Expulsion of Heliodorus” does include Julius II, an impressive figure on a portable throne (with Raphael's self-portrait as one of the chair-carriers).
He dominates this expulsion of the heathen from the Temple of Jerusalem, with powerful emotions indicated by the dramatic staging of these events.

-“The Liberation of St. Peter” (surrounding a door) includes sensational effects of lighting, with the heavenly glow of the angel on the right reflected in the armor of the guard on the left, while Peter sleeps soundly in his black-grated cage at the center.


Room 3, Room of the Signature

(Stanza 3; della Segnatura) (1508-11). Truth, Beauty and Goodness are portrayed as guiding principles that unify Christianity and Paganism.

-“The School of Athens” is one of the marvels of Renaissance painting, showing a philosophical colloquy starring Plato who gestures to the Heavens and Aristotle who points down to Earth, while minor roles include Heraclitus, philosopher of Fire.
Plato has the features of Leonardo, Heraclitus is Michelangelo, and Raphael is on the far right in a cameo appearance.

-“Dispute over the Holy Sacrament”, representing the apotheosis of Christianity, with martyrs and saints worshipping the host, was the first fresco Raphael painted in Rome and still shows his teacher Perugino's influence.


Room 4, Room of the Fire

(Stanza 4, dell’Incendio) (1514-17). The only fresco Raphael did here is “Fire in the Borgo”, showing Pope Leo IV extinguishing the devastating fire of 847 AD by making the sign of the Cross.
Raphael turned convention upside down by putting the central event in the background and giving monumentality to the less important personages in the foreground.

Viale Vaticano (Map A 2)

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