the inimitable raphael--8/2/24

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Today's selection-- from The Vatican by Anja Grebe. Raffaello Sanzio da Urbino (1483 – 1520), known in English as Raphael, was a highly esteemed Italian painter of the Renaissance, often grouped with Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo as one of three great masters of that period. He was entrusted with frescoing the walls of the Room of the Fire of the Borgo, a space used in his day for the meetings of the highest court of the Holy See, presided over by the Pope. This work by Raphael was completed in 1517:

“The Room of Fire in the Borgo (Stanza dell' Incendio del Borgo) was the last of the chambers to be decorated by Raphael, painted largely single-handedly between 1513 and 1517. Although he also planned out the adjoining Room of Constantine, his designs were executed by his pupil Giulio Romano and assistant Giovanni Francesco Penni, who had also worked on Room of Fire frescoes. Under Julius II, the Room of Fire served as the meeting place of the highest court of the Curia, but it was transformed by his successor Leo X into a private dining room for the pope and senior state visitors. Leo X tied the iconographical program more strongly to his own papacy by commissioning scenes from the lives of two of his namesakes, Leo III (reigned 795-816) and Leo IV (reigned 847-855), whom he had the painters give his own facial features. 

Giulio Romano, following original design by Raphael

“One of the most significant events to have occurred under the pontificate of Leo III was the imperial coronation of Charlemagne in 800, which is depicted on the entrance wall. This scene highlights the close relationship between France and the Papal States, which was renewed by Leo X with the Concordat of Bologna. The Battle of Ostia on the opposite wall depicts an episode from the life of Leo IV: the victory of the pope's fleet over the Saracens. Leo X was also confronted by the Turkish threat, and planned a crusade against the Turks. This room's most famous fresco is the Fire in the Borgo, from which the room takes its present name. This painting depicts an event that occurred in 847, when Leo IV put out a dangerous fire in the district of Rome located between the Tiber and the Vatican simply by malting the sign of the cross from the loggia of St. Peter's. The fresco in the lunette depicts Leo Ill's oath of purgation, with which the pope refuted various charges leveled against him by claiming that the pontiff is answerable only to God. This principle would underpin the spiritual and secular rule of the popes, justifying the inclusion of this painting in the room's cycle of frescoes.”

author:	Anja Grebe
title:	Vatican: All the Paintings: The Complete Collection of Old Masters, Plus More than 300 Sculptures, Maps, Tapestries, and other Artifacts
publisher:	‎ Black Dog & Leventhal
pages:	236-237