Raphael Rooms
The rooms of Raphael (from Italian stanza 'room' ) are rooms in the Apostolic Palace that were painted by Raphael and his school.
Originally commissioned by Julius II (1503–1513) from 1508 for his apartments on the second floor of the Vatican Palace, the frescoes by Raphael and his collaborators were continued until 1524 under the patronage of Pope Leo X (1513–1521). The four rooms are now called Sala di Costantino, Stanza di Eliodoro, Stanza della Segnatura and Stanza dell'Incendio di Borgo according to their main themes .
The gloss of the finished frescoes did not last long. As early as 1527, at the Sacco di Roma , they were badly damaged by Protestant mercenaries: faces scratched out that the mercenaries took for popes, inscriptions carved into the painted walls, so the name of Luther or VK imper (should mean: Vivat Karolus imperator ' Long live the emperor Karl ' ). These details came to light during the last restoration in 1999–2001, which not only removed dirt and repainting, but also damage caused by old restorations. Soon after the Sacco di Roma the stamps had been poorly restored by painters who worked for the popes (including Sebastiano del Piombo ).
Because parts of the stucco began to detach from the walls, a major restoration was carried out in 1754, and more in the years from 1856 and 1937. The restoration of 1937 caused damage to the paint layers through the use of unsuitable substances such as hydrochloric acid. The current restoration by Maurizio De Luca , chief restorer of the Vatican Museums , under the art-historical direction of Arnold Nesselrath , director of the Byzantine, medieval and modern departments of the Vatican Museums, has also changed the attribution of individual parts of the picture (see Stanza della Segnatura ).
Overview
| Overview (I) | Overview (II) | East wall | South wall | West wall | North face | ceiling |
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| Sala di Costantino | ||||||
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| The appearance of the cross | The Battle of the Milvian Bridge | The baptism of Constantine | The gift of Rome | |||
| Stanza di Eliodoro | ||||||
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| The expulsion of Heliodor from the temple | The Bolsena Fair | The meeting of Leo the Great with Attila | The Liberation of St. Peter | |||
| Stanza della Segnatura | ||||||
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| The school of Athens | The cardinal and divine virtues and the law | The Disputa of the Most Holy Sacrament | Parnassus | |||
| Stanza dell'incendio di Borgo | ||||||
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| The sea battle of Ostia | The Borgobrand | The coronation of Charlemagne | The justification of Leo III. | |||
Sala di Costantino (Room of Constantine)
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The largest room intended for official receptions is the Sala di Costantino , in which four scenes from the life of Emperor Constantine (306–337 AD) are depicted: Here, as in the other rooms, the decisive themes are the victory of the Christianity over paganism , represented in the apparition of the cross , the battle of the Milvian bridge , the baptism of Constantine and the gift of Rome . Pope figures and allegories of virtue decorate the room and the basement.
The appearance of the cross is the appearance of a sign in the form of a cross, which Emperor Constantine predicted victory over his rival Maxentius if he replaced the Roman eagle with a Christian cross. This laid the foundation stone for the recognition of the Christian religion and then the promotion to the state religion .
In the Battle of the Milvian Bridge , Raphael painted the battle in northern Rome (312), in which the Emperor Constantine, now fighting under the sign of the cross, inflicts the decisive defeat on his adversary Maxentius, who drowns in the Tiber; This work, like the others in the room, was carried out by Raphael's students, including Giulio Romano , whose handwriting has been identified here.
The third fresco shows the baptism of Constantine who, after having fulfilled his promise, now converts to the Christian faith. He receives the baptismal sacrament from Pope Silvester I , who here bears the features of Pope Clement VII (1523–1534), under whose pontificate work on the frescoes was resumed; these frescoes were probably executed by Raphael's pupil Giovanni Francesco Penni .
After Raphael had painted the baptism of the emperor and thus the submission of worldly power to God, he turned on the fourth fresco to the next step for the consolidation of papal authority (in the high Middle Ages and modern times), the Constantinian donation , which ( see Pippin's donations ) should form the basis for the patrimony of Peter and the independence of the popes from secular rulers. Here, too, Pope Silvester wears the facial features of Clement VII, the nephew of his predecessor Leo X, who was also depicted in the figures of his eponymous predecessors in the other rooms. The wooden ceiling of Leo X was under Gregory XIII. replaced by a frescoed ( Tommaso Laureti , Triumph of the Christian Religion ) vault.
Stanza di Eliodoro (Heliodorus Hall)
The second room, which served as a room for private audiences under Julius II, is called the Stanza di Eliodoro . The frescoes also have a political orientation and aim at the god-given wealth and independence of the papacy, which were in danger against the backdrop of France's Italian campaigns. They are an expression of Julius II's will, after the political and moral decline of the papacy in the “Babylonian captivity” in Avignon and the Great Western Schism in the 14th and 15th centuries, to give a new political and moral leadership role in Western Christianity . The four walls of the room and the vaulted ceiling were painted after Raffael had finished the Stanza della Segnatura. Parts of the ceiling frescoes go back to Raphael's predecessor in the decoration of the Luca Signorelli , Bramantino , Lorenzo Lotto and Cesare da Sesto rooms , whose work was replaced by the paintings of Raphael on behalf of Julius II.
It depicts the expulsion of the Syrian general Heliodor from the Jewish temple, who was commissioned by the Syrian king to plunder the treasures of the temple of Jerusalem and was put to flight by a rider sent by God with two young men. Pope Julius II is painted as an eyewitness seated on the sedia gestatoria , which is worn by the two artists Raffael and Marcantonio Raimondi .
The Bolsena Mass represents an event in 1263 when during a mass the blood of Christ dripped from the host and stained the corporal . As a result of this miracle, the Feast of Corpus Christi was established and the construction of Orvieto Cathedral began. Possible doubts about the theological doctrine about transubstantiation , the transformation of wine and bread into the blood and body of Christ, should be removed in this picture. Believers should be strengthened in their faith in communion. Julius II is shown kneeling on the right with his relatives, Cardinals Leonardo Grosso della Rovere, Raffaello Riario, Tommaso Riario and Agostino Spinola. On the left is Felice della Rovere , daughter of Pope Julius II, among the faithful. In the midst of the Swiss Guard - kneeling and facing the viewer - there is another self-portrait by Raffael.
The release of the Apostle Peter from prison shows the description of the miraculous liberation of the first bishop of Rome by an angel from the Acts of the Apostles (12 : 5–12); In the choice of subject, it refers to the occupation of the Papal States by the French and its liberation by Julius II, who was Cardinal of San Pietro in Vincoli .
After the death of Julius II, the last fresco in this room was completed, which shows the defense of the Papal States by Leo I against the invasion of the Huns in the encounter between Leo the Great and Attila (452 AD) . The eponymous predecessor of Pope Leo X, who was drawn here twice as cardinal and as Pope Leo I, appeared in negotiations with Attila, the sword-wielding apostles Peter and Paul , who supported the pope as prince apostles of the ecclesia militans and the Huns should have moved away from Italy. Here, too, a clear signal can be seen to both the French and the Habsburgs , who finally barbarically devastated the city of Rome in the Sacco di Roma in 1527 .
Stanza della Segnatura (Hall of the Signature)
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The Stanza della Segnatura , the first hall of the four rooms painted by Raphael from 1508–1511, houses four of the most famous frescoes by Raphael, which represent a milestone in painting of the High Renaissance . The room served Julius II as a library and study and was equipped with bookcases below the frescoes, which are only simulated on the north wall, presumably so as not to obstruct the passage between the doors. The room got its name under Paul III. who assembled the highest papal jurisdiction, the Segnatura Gratiae et Iustitiae , under his chairmanship. The determining themes of the room are the "three highest principles of the human spirit": the true, the good and the beautiful. These are depicted in the four wall and vault frescoes, which have the Disputa del Sacramento , the School of Athens , the cardinal and divine virtues and the law as well as Parnassus as their theme.
Theological truth finds its expression in the Disputa of the Most Holy Sacrament , which, like the fresco in the Sala di Costantino, relates to the triumph of the Christian religion: the entire Catholic cosmos of faith consisting of the Holy Trinity together with the Mother of God, the saints Patriarchs, the prophets, the apostles, the church fathers, etc. - some of the people have the facial features of historical figures - as it was redefined at the fifth Lateran council, 1512–1517.
In the Athens School , Raphael learned natural truth, philosophical reason, in the form of ancient philosophers - Plato , Aristotle , Pythagoras , Diogenes , Heraclitus , Euclid , Zarathustra , Ptolemy , e.g. Partly again with facial features of historical persons (including Michelangelo and Raffael himself) - painted in front of a Renaissance architecture ( Bramante's design for New St. Peter ).
Raphael shows the good in the cardinal and godly virtues and the law as allegories of the cardinal virtues of bravery, prudence and temperance and the Christian virtues of faith, hope and love, which were painted on the bezels of the wall. At the bottom left of the window you can see the delivery of the pandects (Roman legal decrees) to Emperor Justinian. On the right are the decretals to Pope Gregory IX. to hand over. The Pope bears the features of the client Julius II (1503-1513). The cardinals at his side are Giovanni de 'Medici and Alessandro Farnese, the future popes Leo X (1513–1521) and Paul III. (1534-1549). Lorenzo Lotto carried out the handover of the Pandects to Emperor Justinian.
In Parnassus , glorification of the idea of the beautiful, the muses subordinate to Apollo and the ancient and modern poets - Homer , Virgil , Dante and Sappho - complement the spiritual cosmos of this space. The vault summarizes in allegorical form man's abilities for philosophy, theology, poetry and justice.
The most recent restoration of the stamping, headed by Arnold Nesselrath, has shown in the previous examinations of the frescoes and with the help of a style comparison with the frescoes by Lorenzo Lotto in Trescore near Bergamo that the amount of Lotto preserved is much larger than previously assumed.
Stanza dell'incendio di Borgo (Borgobrand Room)
1514–1517 Raphael painted his second room, the Stanza dell'incendio di Borgo , which also served as a courtroom under Julius II and as a dining room under Leo X. Perugino's painting of the vaulted ceiling from 1508 refers to the court function of the hall. In his frescoes, Raphael illustrates the political will to rule Leo X in the church, as he had already implemented for Julius II in the Stanza di Eliodoro . The supremacy of the Pope over the worldly powers, the unity of Christianity and the fight against the unbelievers are the defining statements in the picture.
These can be found in the coronation of Charlemagne by Pope Leo III. their first formulation of a desired and desired relationship between papacy and empire. Specific reference is made to Leo X and the French King Francis I , whose conquests in northern Italy were recognized by the Pope in the Bologna Concordat . The establishment of the Holy Roman Empire as a continuation of the fifth, Roman world empire, and the translatio imperii were the ideological basis for the authority of the Pope in the western world.
In the following fresco of the justification of Leo III. shows Raffael the episode after the coronation of the Frankish king, in which the Pope confronts the nephews of his predecessor Hadrian VI. Rejects justifications saying that God alone is responsible for his actions. The political claim of the Pope to his secular and ecclesiastical opponents to be subject to God alone and not to any secular ruler becomes clear.
The image of the Borgo fire shows Pope Leo IV. (847-855), by blessing the fire in the neighboring district of Vatican, Borgo extinguished, and thus saves the city and church. Allusions to the Turkish war that has been raging in Southeastern Europe for decades and now raging in Hungary after the fall of Constantinople cannot be overlooked here.
The theme of the crusade or the fight against the unbelievers and the protection of the believers is also the focus of the picture of the sea battle of Ostia , in which the troops of Leo IV defeat the enemy Saracens . All the scenes shown in this room refer to the most important deeds of the predecessor Leo X., who can be represented with his facial features in their figures and thus visualizes an ideal union of his predecessors with his pontificate.
Overall, Raphael's frescoes are to be read as an expression of belief in the triumph of Christianity and as a declaration of will of the political claim to the supremacy of the papacy over secular rule.
Literature (selection)
Monographs
- Albert Erich Brinckmann : Raffaello. Pictures from the stamps , Die Silberne Bücher Volume 17, Woldemar Klein, Baden-Baden 1949.
- Guido Cornini: Raffaello nell'appartamento di Giulio II e Leone X. Monumenti, musei, gallerie pontificie (= Luce per l'arte ). Electa et al., Milan 1993, ISBN 88-435-4673-2 .
- Hartmut Biermann : Raphael's Stanzen: An attempt at a shape analysis . Commissioned by the Max Hueber university bookstore, Munich 1957.
- Joachim W. Jacoby: At the service of the popes. Raphael's cycle of rulers in the Stanza dell 'Incendio in the Vatican Palace. (= Studies on Art History. Vol. 22). Olms, Hildesheim et al. 1987, ISBN 3-487-07846-5 (also: Diss. Univ. Hamburg 1984).
- Christiane L. Joost-Gaugier: Raphael's Stanza della Segnatura. Meaning and invention. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge et al. 2002, ISBN 0-521-80923-1 .
- Glenn W. Most : Raffael. The school of Athens. About reading the pictures (= Fischer 13385 feat ). Fischer-Taschenbuch-Verlag, Frankfurt am Main 1999, ISBN 3-596-13385-8 .
- Gian Franco Mellini: The Rooms of the Vatican / Raffael . Sadea Editore, Florence 1968.
- Arnold Nesselrath : Raphael's School of Athens (= Recent restorations of the Vatican Museums. 1). Ed. Musei Vaticani, Vatican 1997, ISBN 88-86921-05-2 .
- Konrad Oberhuber : Raffael. The painterly work. Prestel, Munich et al. 1999, ISBN 3-7913-2237-0 .
Essays
- Arnold Nesselrath: Lorenzo Lotto in the Stanza della Segnatura. In: The Burlington Magazine. Vol. 142, 2000, ISSN 0007-6287 , pp. 4-12.
- Michael Rohlmann: Leonine promise of victory and Clementine salvation fulfillment in the Sala di Costantino. In: Journal for Art History. Vol. 57, No. 2, 1994, ISSN 0044-2992 , pp. 153-169.
- John Shearman : The Vatican Punch. Functions and Decorations. Read November 24, 1971. In: Proceedings of the British Academy. Vol. 57, 1972, ISSN 0068-1202 , pp. 4-58 (also special print: Oxford University Press, London 1972, ISBN 0-19-725677-5 ).
Web links
- Jacob Burckhardt's Cicerone from 1855 online at the Gutenberg Project, hosted by Spiegel; for the punches see especially [1]
- Raphael's Rooms - Vatican Museums
- Stanza della Segnatura: Parnassus