The Raphael’s Rooms are one of the masterpieces in the Vatican Museums, painted by Raphael and the students of his art school between 1508 and 1524.
These four rooms, also known as Raphael’s Stanze, consist of marvelous frescoes bursting with vibrant colors and striking symmetry, a principle of Renaissance art.
Located on the second floor of the Pontifical Palace, Pope Julius II commissioned the construction of these rooms for his and his successors’ residences.
This article will discuss the paintings and the stories they tell in each of the four rooms.
Hall Of Constantine
The hall was designed for receptions and official ceremonies and decorated by Raphael’s pupils based on his drawings due to his premature death in 1520.
Its nomenclature refers to King Constantine, the first Christian emperor, who officially recognized the Christian faith and gave people the freedom to worship.
Four life episodes of Constantine, depicted on the walls in this room, bear witness to the victory of Christian faith over paganism. These are:
- Vision of the Cross
- Battle of the Pons Milvius
- Baptism of Constantine
- Donation of Rome
The great Popes, surrounded by symbolic figures of virtue, complete the hall’s decoration.
Pope Leo X’s original wooden roof was replaced under Gregory XIII to portray the ‘Triumph of the Christian Religion’ in the central panel.
Recently, during certain restoration work on the walls of the hall, Raphael’s authorship of the oil-painted figures of Comitas and Iustitia and the Vision and the Battle were found.
Room of Heliodorus
Raphael decorated this room, which was originally used for the Pope’s private audiences, right after the Segnatura.
The room’s program is political and aims to document the miraculous protection God bestowed on the church in different historical moments, from the Old Testament to medieval history.
The frescoes in this room express the political agenda of Pope Julius II, freeing Italy from French occupation and restoring power to the papacy.
The episodes that are painted on the walls include:
- Mass of Bolsena
- Liberation of St Peter
- The encounter of Leo the Great with Attila
- Expulsion of Heliodorus from the temple
An iconic fresco painting in this chamber depicts Heliodorus being banished from the temple, a scene from the Hebrew Bible in which the king’s supporter tries to steal holy items from a temple.
Other parts of the decoration on arches can be attributed to artists like Luca Signorelli, Bramantino, Lorenzo Lotto, and Cesare da Sesto.
Ceiling: The four episodes depicted on the ceiling are the work of Raphael.
Raphael replaced the grotesques with frescoes in the center of the ceiling with four episodes of the Old Testament:
- Noah leaving the ark
- The sacrifice of Isaac
- Moses before the burning bush, and
- Jacob’s dream
Check out our article on Sistine Chapel Ceiling.
Room of the Segnatura
The Room of the Segnatura contains Raphael’s most famous frescoes, marking the beginning of the High Renaissance.
The room takes its name from the highest court of the Holy See (“Segnatura Gratiae et Iustitiae”) and was originally used by Julius II as a library and private office.
These iconographic frescoes established theology and were illustrated to represent the three greatest categories of the human spirit: Truth, Good and Beauty.
- Disputation over the Most Holy Sacrament (supernatural truth / Theology)
- School of Athens (rational truth / Philosophy)
- Cardinal and Theological Virtues and the Law (Good / Justice)
- Parnassus with Apollo and the Muses (Beauty / Poetry)
All the walls are covered with wood furnishings, except the Parnassus, where the same fresco painting that is still visible today was done due to space constraints.
Ceiling: The ceiling has four sections dedicated to spirits represented by female allegories: Philosophy, Theology, Poetry and Justice.
These allegorical figures link the ceiling frescoes to the scenes below them on the corresponding walls, suggesting their spiritual abilities.
During Pope Leo X’s reign (1513 to 1521), the room was used as a small study and music room, in which the pontiff also kept his collection of musical instruments.
Contents
Room of the Fire in the Borgo
The room served as the venue for sessions of the Holy See’s highest court (Segnatura Gratiae et Iustitiae) during Pope Julius II’s reign (1503–1513), which he presided over.
Later, during Leo X’s time (1513 to 1521), the room was used as a dining room, and Raphael was assigned the task of frescoing the walls.
The frescoes use narratives from the lives of two previous Popes bearing the same name to depict Leo X’s political goals:
- Crowning of Charlemagne
- Justification of Leo III
- Fire in the Borgo
- Battle of Ostia
The monochromes beneath the paintings depict six seated emperors and sovereign figures who serve as the church’s protectors.
Ceiling: Perugino’s paintings on the ceiling are associated with the function of the Holy See.
It depicts, in the four medals, the
- Holy Trinity, the Creator enthroned among angels and cherubs,
- Christ as Sol Iustitiae,
- Christ tempted by the devil, and
- Christ between Mercy and Justice.
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Featured Image: Britannica.com