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From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Raphael Rooms
The Stanza della Segnatura
Map
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ArtistRaphael
LocationApostolic Palace, part of Vatican Museums, Rome
Coordinates41°54′13″N 12°27′23″E / 41.903611°N 12.456389°E / 41.903611; 12.456389

The four Raphael Rooms (Italian: Stanze di Raffaello) form a suite of reception rooms in the Apostolic Palace, now part of the Vatican Museums, in Vatican City. They are famous for their frescoes, painted by Raphael and his workshop. Together with Michelangelo's Sistine Chapel ceiling frescoes, they are the grand fresco sequences that mark the High Renaissance in Rome.

The Stanze, as they are commonly called, were originally intended as a suite of apartments for Pope Julius II. He commissioned Raphael, then a relatively young artist from Urbino, and his studio in 1508 or 1509 to redecorate the existing interiors of the rooms entirely. It was possibly Julius' intent to outshine the apartments of his predecessor (and rival) Pope Alexander VI, as the Stanze are directly above Alexander's Borgia Apartment. They are on the second floor, overlooking the south side of the Belvedere Courtyard.

Running from east to west, as a visitor would have entered the apartment, but not following the sequence in which the Stanze were frescoed, the rooms are the Sala di Costantino ("Hall of Constantine"), the Stanza di Eliodoro ("Room of Heliodorus"), the Stanza della Segnatura ("Room of the Signatura"), and the Stanza dell'Incendio del Borgo ("The Room of the Fire in the Borgo").

After the death of Julius in 1513, with two rooms frescoed, Pope Leo X continued the program. Following Raphael's death in 1520, his assistants Gianfrancesco Penni, Giulio Romano and Raffaellino del Colle finished the project with the frescoes in the Sala di Costantino.

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  • Raphael, School of Athens
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  • Raphael's Vision: A Discussion of the Paintings in the Stanza Della Segnatura in the Vatican
  • Walkthrough Of The Stunning Raphael Rooms In The Vatican

Transcription

- [Voiceover] We're in the very crowded and not very large room called the Stanza della Segnatura that is not only dense with people, but it's dense with imagery. We're looking at frescoes by Raphael. - [Voiceover] Painted during the High Renaissance at the same time that Michelangelo was painting the Sistine Chapel ceiling just a few doors away. This room was originally a library, part of the papal apartments, that is the apartments where the Pope lived. In order to imagine what this room would have looked like at the beginning of the 16th Century, imagine away all of these people and imagine instead the lower walls lined with books. - [Voiceover] And also imagine quiet which is hard to do here, and an environment of learning where you could look up at what Raphael painted here on the four walls which are the four branches of human knowledge, philosophy, having to do with things of this world. - [Voiceover] The philosophy at this time also meant what we know call the sciences. - [Voiceover] On the opposite wall theology, having to do with issues relating to God and the divine. And on the two other walls, poetry and justice. So these four areas of human knowledge symbolized by allegorical figures that we see on the ceiling, and it's so clear that a few doors away is Michelangelo because Raphael is clearly looking at Michelangelo's figures on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel especially the prophets and the Sybils. What a moment in the High Renaissance all commissioned thanks to Pope Julius II. - [Voiceover] And think about what it means for theology to be presented equally with human knowledge. It is this extraordinarily liberal moment in church history. - [Voiceover] When humanist's classical learning can be united with the teachings of the church. In the center of the School of Athens, the frescoe that represents philosophy, we have the two great philosophers from antiquity in the center Plato and Aristotle surrounded by other great thinkers and philosophers and mathematicians from antiquity. - [Voiceover] Virtually, every known great figure, but let's start with the two in the center. We can tell Plato from Aristotle because Plato is older. Plato was, in fact, Aristotle's teacher, but also because he holds one of his own books, the Timaeus. - [Voiceover] And Aristotle holds his book, The Ethics. - [Voiceover] Both of those books represent the contrasting philosophies of these two men. Plato was known for being interested in the ethereal, the theoretical, that which could not be seen, and, in fact, we see him pointing upward. - [Voiceover] This idea that the world of appearances is not the final truth, that there is a realm that is based on mathematics, on pure idea that is more true than the everyday world that we see. - [Voiceover] Whereas, Aristotle, his student, focused his attention on the observable, the actual, the physical. You'll notice that his palm is down, and he seems to be saying, "No, no, no, "let's pay attention to what is here." - [Voiceover] Right, to what we can see and observe in the world. - [Voiceover] In fact, if you look at the colors that each of the figures wear, they refer to this division. Plato wears red and purple, the purple referring to the ether what we would call the air, the red to fire, neither of which have weight. Aristotle wears blue and brown that is the colors of earth and water which have gravity, which have weight. - [Voiceover] So the philosophers on either side of Plato and Aristotle continue this division. On the side of Plato, we see philosophers concerned with issues of the ideal. For example, on the lower left we see Pythagoras the great ancient mathematician who discovered laws of harmony in music, in mathematics. This idea that there is a reality that transcends the reality that we see. - [Voiceover] Compare that to the lower right where we see Euclid, the figure we associate with geometry. In fact, he seems to be drawing a geometric diagram for some very eager students. But he is interested in measure, that is the idea of the practical. - [Voiceover] Euclid is modeled actually on a friend of Raphael's and that's Bramante the great architect asked by Pope Julius II to provide a new model for a new Saint Peter's. - [Voiceover] And in fact, appropriate to his reincarnation here as Euclid, Bramante's design for Saint Peter's was based on a perfect geometry of circles and squares. - [Voiceover] And is really visible in the architecture that Raphael constructed for the School of Athens. Here we see an architecture that is very Bramantian, but also very ancient Roman. We have coffered barrel vaults, Pilasters. This is a space that ennobles the figures that it contains. - [Voiceover] And we can see representations of classical sculpture in the niches on the left, that is on the platonic side. We see Apollo, the God of the Sun, the God of Music, the God of Poetry, things that would be appropriate to the platonic. In turn on the right, we see Athena, the God of War and Wisdom, who presumably is involved in the more practical affairs of man. - [Voiceover] All of this seems to me to be a place that is the opposite of the Medieval where knowledge was something that was passed down by authority and one had to accept it. But here, on the walls of the papal apartments, we get this image of sharing knowledge and the history of the accumulation of knowledge all with figures who move beautifully who in their bodies represent a gracefulness that is a reflection of their inner wisdom and knowledge. - [Voiceover] You'll notice that Raphael has not placed any names within the painting. The only identifiers are perhaps the titles of the books that both Plato and Aristotle hold, and so we're meant to understand who these figures are through their movement, through their dress. Now, the artist has parted both groups to the left and the right so that the middle foreground is fairly empty. He does this, I think, for a couple of reasons. He wants the linear perspective at the bottom of the painting to balance the strong orthogonals at the top of the painting. He wants to make way for the advancement of Plato and Aristotle as they walk down the stairs, but we also have two figures in the foreground in the middle. We have Diogenes, and most interestingly, we have the ancient philosopher, Heraclitus, who seems to be writing and thinking quietly by himself. Most of the other figures in this painting are engaged with others, but not this man. He seems to be lost in his own thoughts. - [Voiceover] Well, and he is writing on a block of marble. In fact, his features are those of the great artist Michelangelo known for his rather lonely and brooding personality. Raphael has painted him here in the same pose as the prophet Isaiah on the Sistine ceiling although Isaiah looks up, and here Michelangelo's Heraclitus decidedly looks down. - [Voiceover] And so it's so interesting that Raphael is paying homage to Michelangelo the great artist here personifying Heraclitus, the philosopher who believed that all things were always in flux. - [Voiceover] That figure of Heraclitus was actually added later. Raphael finished the frescoe, added some wet plaster, and added in that figure. We should also note that Raphael included himself here. - [Voiceover] That's the young figure looking directly out at us in a black cap, and standing among some of the most important astronomers of all time. - [Voiceover] Including Ptolemy, who theorized about the movements of the planets. - [Voiceover] And Zoroaster, who's holding the celestial orb. - [Voiceover] We're so far here from the Medieval idea of the artist as a craftsman. Here the artist is considered an intellectual on par with some the greatest thinkers in history, who can express these important ideas. So we have dozens of figures here without any sense of stiffness or repetition. Raphael, like Leonardo, in The Last Supper divides the figures into groups. Each figure overlaps and moves easily between and amongst the others. My favorite two figures are the ones just behind Euclid, one leaning against the wall with his leg crossed over the other who's hurrying and writing some notes. The other leaning over and watching. - [Voiceover] There's a wonderful sense of intimacy there. - [Voiceover] I think it's a scene you could see walking along the hallway of any college or university. - [Voiceover] For all the free movement of the figures, the architecture itself is using a linear perspective in a rigorous way. You can follow the orthogonal either in the pavement, or in the cornices as they recede back. - [Voiceover] So the illusion of space here in incredible. -[Voiceover] Look at the way that the decoration of the Greek meander seems as if it goes back in space. What's interesting though is if this architecture is harking back to any ancient tradition, it's harking back to the Roman tradition not to the Greek's who would never use barrel vaults in this way. -[Voiceover] Nearby, Bramante, Raphael, Michelangelo could see the Baths of Caracalla, or the Basilica of Manutius and Constantine. There was Roman architectural ruins all over the city that resembled what Raphael has painted here. - [Voiceover] It's so extraordinary that we're celebrating here, the Pantheon of great pagan thinkers. None of these men were Christians. Let's take a quick look at the frescoes that's opposite the School of Athens known as the Dispute. - [Voiceover] This frescoe represents theology, the study of the divine. Figures here are divided between the heavenly and the earthly. - [Voiceover] Close to the top we see God the Father in the dome of heaven. Below him, Christ in this marvelous full-body halo, or mandorla, and he's surrounded by the Virgin Mary on his right, and St. John the Baptist on his left. Just below, a dove against another gold disk, and this is the Holy Spirit, so all three together are the Trinity. - [Voiceover] On either side of the dove are the four books of the gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, that tell the story of the life of Christ. On that wonderful bench of clouds sit prophets and saints. - [Voiceover] And we can actually recognize, for instance, Moses holding the 10 commandments. - [Voiceover] And then another circle below contains the host, or the bread that is miraculously the body of Christ during the Mass. - [Voiceover]The bread functions as a link between heaven and earth. We can see how separated heaven and earth are in this fresco, and how important that link is. -[Voiceover] The figures along the bottom are Popes, and Bishops, and Cardinals, and members of various religious orders. - [Voiceover] The fathers of the church, we can make out a portrait of Dante, the great Medieval poet. - [Voiceover] We have a sense of the figures on the bottom of the frescoe, coming to divine knowledge through the miracle of the host, and two figures on either end seem to be moving away from that divine knowledge. - [Voiceover] But there's efforts being made to turn them around, to bring them back. - [Voiceover] So here, in the Stanza della Segnatura a room that functioned as the library for Pope Julius II, a celebration of all aspects of human knowledge.

Scheme

The scheme of the works is as follows:

Room of the Signatura Room of Heliodorus Room of the Fire in the Borgo Hall of Constantine
General view (I)
General view (II)
East wall
The School of Athens The Expulsion of Heliodorus from the Temple Battle of Ostia The Vision of the Cross
South wall
Cardinal and Theological Virtues The Mass at Bolsena The Fire in the Borgo The Battle of the Milvian Bridge
West wall
Disputation of the Holy Sacrament The Meeting of Leo the Great and Attila The Coronation of Charlemagne The Baptism of Constantine
North wall
The Parnassus Deliverance of Saint Peter The Oath of Leo III The Donation of Constantine
Ceiling

Sala di Costantino

The largest of the twelve rooms is the Sala di Costantino ("Hall of Constantine"). Its paintings were not begun until Pope Julius and, indeed Raphael himself, had died. The room is dedicated to the victory of Christianity over paganism. Its frescoes represent this struggle from the life of the Roman Emperor Constantine, and are the work of Giulio Romano, Gianfrancesco Penni and Raffaellino del Colle. Because they are not by the master himself, the frescos are less famous than works in the neighboring rooms. Continuing a long tradition of flattery, Raphael's assistants gave the features of the current pontiff, Clement VII, to Pope Sylvester in the paintings.

The Vision of the Cross

The Vision of the Cross, 1520–1524

The fresco of The Vision of the Cross depicts the legendary story of a great cross appearing to Constantine as he marched to confront his rival Maxentius. The vision in the sky is painted with the words in Greek "Εν τούτω νίκα" ("By this, conquer", better known as the Latin In hoc signo vinces) written next to it.

The Battle of Milvian Bridge

The Battle of Milvian Bridge, 1520-1524

The Battle of Milvian Bridge shows the battle that took place on October 28, 312, following Constantine's vision.

The Baptism of Constantine

The Baptism of Constantine, 1517–1524

The third painting in the sequence, The Baptism of Constantine, was most likely painted by Gianfrancesco Penni, and shows the emperor being baptised by Pope Sylvester I in the Lateran Baptistery at Rome. This follows the account of Constantine's baptism given in the Acts of Sylvester and the Liber Pontificalis, rather than the alternate deathbed version recounted in Eusebius's Life of Constantine. In The Baptism of Constantine, Pope Sylvester I has the physical features of Pope Clement VII (1523-1534), who ordered the completion of the Raphael Rooms. [1]

The Donation of Constantine

The Donation of Constantine, 1520–1524

The final painting in the sequence, The Donation of Constantine, records an event that supposedly took place shortly after Constantine's baptism, and was inspired by the famous forged documents, incorporated into Gratian's Decretum, granting the Papacy sovereignty over Rome's territorial dominions.

Stanza di Eliodoro

The next room, going from East to West, is the Stanza di Eliodoro ("Room of Heliodorus"). Painted between 1511 and 1514, it takes its name from one of the paintings. The theme of this private chamber – probably an audience room – was the heavenly protection granted by Christ to the Church.[2] The four paintings are: The Expulsion of Heliodorus from the Temple, The Mass at Bolsena, The Meeting of Pope Leo I and Attila, and The Deliverance of Saint Peter from Prison. In the first two of these frescoes, Raphael flatteringly includes his patron, Pope Julius II, as participant or observer; the third, painted after Julius's death, includes a portrait of his successor, Leo X.

Raphael's style changed here from the Stanza della Segnatura. Instead of the static images of the Pope's library, he had dramatic narratives to portray, and his approach was to maximize the frescoes' expressive effects. He represented fewer, larger figures so that their actions and emotions have more direct impact on the viewers, and he used theatrical lighting effects to spotlight certain figures and heighten tension.

The Expulsion of Heliodorus from the Temple

Raphael, The Expulsion of Heliodorus from the Temple, 1511–1513

In The Expulsion of Heliodorus from the Temple Raphael illustrated the biblical episode from II Maccabees (3:21–28) about Heliodorus, who was sent to seize the treasure preserved in the Temple in Jerusalem, but was stopped when the prayer of the priest of the temple was answered by angels who flogged the intruder and an angelic rider who chased him from the temple. The composition is considerably more dramatic than Raphael's earlier frescoes in the Stanza della Segnatura. Although the focal point is the still figure of the priest at prayer, Heliodorus and the angels rush forward into space, threatening to spill out of the painting. At the left Julius II, carried by the Swiss Guard in a chair, witnesses the event. His inclusion here refers to his battles to prevent secular leaders from usurping papal territories.[3]

The Mass at Bolsena

Raphael, The Mass at Bolsena, 1512

The Mass at Bolsena depicts the story of a Bohemian priest who in 1263 ceased to doubt the doctrine of Transubstantiation when he saw the bread begin to bleed during its consecration at Mass. The cloth that was stained by the blood was held as a relic at the nearby town of Orvieto; Julius II had visited Orvieto and prayed over the relic in 1506.[4] The Pope is portrayed as a participant in the Mass and a witness to the miracle; he kneels to the right of the altar, with members of the Curia (also portraits) standing behind him. Raphael distinguishes the "real" thirteenth-century witnesses from those who are contemporaries of the pope by their degree of engagement in the event; the latter concentrate calmly on Julius kneeling at his devotions rather than responding to the miracle.

The Meeting of Leo the Great and Attila

The Meeting of Leo the Great and Attila, 1514

The Meeting of Leo the Great and Attila depicts the storied parley between the Pope and the Hun conqueror, and includes the legendary images of Saint Peter and Saint Paul in the sky bearing swords. A fully developed drawing by Raphael indicates he planned to place the pope – portrayed with Julius's features – in the background; when Leo X became pope – and just happened to choose the name Leo – he must have encouraged the artist to bring the pope front and center and use his own portrait.[5]

Deliverance of Saint Peter

Raphael, Deliverance of Saint Peter, 1514

The Deliverance of Saint Peter shows, in three episodes, how Saint Peter was liberated from prison by an angel, as described in Acts 12. It symbolizes the power of the Vicar of Christ to escape human restraints. Julius II's titular church as cardinal, before he was elevated to the papacy, had been S. Pietro in Vincoli (St. Peter in Chains), so the painting is at once a general reference to the papacy and a specific reference to Julius.[6] The fresco is a study in light: natural moonlight, man-made torchlight, and God-provided angel light. It is the latter, of course, that outshines the others.

Stanza della Segnatura

The Stanza della segnatura ("Room of the Signatura") was the first to be decorated by Raphael's frescoes. It was the study housing the library of Julius II, in which the Signatura of Grace tribunal was originally located. The artist's concept brings into harmony the spirits of Antiquity and Christianity and reflects the contents of the pope's library with themes of theology, philosophy, jurisprudence, and the poetic arts, represented in tondi above the lunettes of the walls. The theme of this room is worldly and spiritual wisdom and the harmony which Renaissance humanists perceived between Christian teaching and Greek philosophy. The theme of wisdom is appropriate as this room was the council chamber for the Apostolic Signatura, where most of the important papal documents were signed and sealed.

Disputation of the Holy Sacrament

Raphael, Disputation of the Holy Sacrament, 1509-1510

The first composition Raphael executed between 1509 and 1510[7] was the Disputation of the Holy Sacrament, the traditional name for what is really an Adoration of the Sacrament. In the painting, Raphael created an image of the church, which is presented as spanning both heaven and earth.

The Parnassus

Raphael, The Parnassus, 1509-1511

Raphael completed the second composition between 1509 and 1511.[8] It represents The Parnassus, the dwelling place of the god Apollo and the Muses and the home of poetry, according to classical myth. In the fresco Apollo and the Muses are surrounded by poets from antiquity and Raphael's own time.

The School of Athens

Raphael, The School of Athens, 1509-1511

Between 1509 and 1511, Raphael also completed another work on the wall opposite the Disputa. This third painting,[9] entitled The School of Athens, represents the degrees of knowledge or the truth acquired through reason. The fresco's position as well as the philosophers' walk in direction of the Holy Sacrament on the opposite wall suggested the interpretation of the whole room as the movement from the classical philosophy to the true religion and from the pre-Christian world to Christianity.[10] It was meant to reside over the philosophical section of Pope Julius II's library. It is perhaps Raphael's most famous fresco.

The Cardinal Virtues

Raphael, The Cardinal Virtues, 1511

The two scenes on the fourth wall, executed by the workshop, and the lunette above it, containing the Cardinal Virtues, were painted in 1511. The Cardinal Virtues allegorically presents the virtues of fortitude, prudence and temperance alongside charity, faith, and hope.

Stanza dell'incendio del Borgo

The Stanza dell'incendio del Borgo was named for the Fire in the Borgo fresco which depicts Pope Leo IV making the sign of the cross to extinguish a raging fire in the Borgo district of Rome near the Vatican. This room was prepared as a music room for Julius' successor, Leo X. The frescos depict events from the lives of Popes Leo III and Leo IV. The other paintings in the room are The Oath of Leo III, The Coronation of Charlemagne by Leo III, and The Battle of Ostia. Though the Fire in the Borgo was based on Raphael's mature designs it was executed by his assistants, who painted the other three paintings without his guidance.

The Oath of Leo III

The Oath of Leo III, 1516–1517

On December 23, 800 AD, Pope Leo III took an oath of purgation concerning charges brought against him by the nephews of his predecessor Pope Hadrian I. This event is shown in The Oath of Leo III.

The Coronation of Charlemagne

The Coronation of Charlemagne, 1516–1517

The Coronation of Charlemagne shows how Charlemagne was crowned Imperator Romanorum on Christmas Day, 800.

Fire in the Borgo

The Fire in the Borgo, 1514–1517

The Fire in the Borgo shows an event that is documented in the Liber Pontificalis: a fire that broke out in the Borgo in Rome in 847. According to the Catholic Church, Pope Leo IV contained the fire with his benediction.

The Battle of Ostia

The Battle of Ostia, 1514–1515

The Battle of Ostia was inspired by the naval victory of Leo IV over the Saracens at Ostia in 849.

See also

Notes

  1. ^ "Raphael | Stanze in the Palazzi Pontifici, Vatican | Podere Santa Pia, Holiday house in the south of Tuscany". Archived from the original on 2021-05-09. Retrieved 2021-04-17.
  2. ^ Roger Jones and Nicholas Penny, Raphael, New Haven, 1983, 113; Ingrid D. Rowland, "The Vatican Stanze," in The Cambridge Companion to Raphael, ed. Marcia B. Hall, Cambridge, 2005, 111.
  3. ^ Jones and Penny, 117; Rowland, 112.
  4. ^ Jones and Penny, 117; John Pope-Hennessy, Raphael, London, 1970, 112; Rowland, 113.
  5. ^ Jones & Penny, 118–121; Pope-Hennessy, 115.
  6. ^ Jones & Penny, 118; Rowland,112–113.
  7. ^ Raphael, Phaidon Publishers, 1948, p. 24.
  8. ^ Raphael, Marcia B. Hall (ed.), The Cambridge Companion to Raphael, Cambridge University Press, 2005, p. 195.
  9. ^ Jones and Penny, p. 74: "The execution of the School of Athens ... probably followed that of the Parnassus."
  10. ^ M. Smolizza, Rafael y el Amor. La Escuela de Atenas como protréptico a la filosofia, in Idea y Sentimiento. Itinerarios por el dibujo de Rafael a Cézanne, Barcelona, 2007, pp. 29–77

Further reading

  • Rijser, David. “Tradition and Originality in Raphael: The Stanza Della Segnatura, the Middle Ages and Local Traditions.” The Quest for an Appropriate Past in Literature, Art and Architecture, edited by Karl A.E. Enenkel and Konrad A. Ottenheym, vol. 60, Brill, LEIDEN; BOSTON, 2019, pp. 106–126. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/10.1163/j.ctvbqs5nk.11. Accessed 24 Mar. 2021.

External links

Preceded by
Ecstasy of Saint Teresa
Landmarks of Rome
Raphael Rooms
Succeeded by
Sistine Chapel ceiling
This page was last edited on 10 March 2024, at 11:57
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