VATICAN
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VATICAN
rooms in the Palace of Nicholas V and two in the
forre Borgia, which serve for the Exhibition of Mod-
ern Paintings. As explained above, the popes, who
jnre occupied the Appartamento Borgia, later re-
uoved one story higher, into the rooms which are
vnown (o-day as the Stanze di Raffaello, because
hey were painted by Raphael. Julius II desired
I comparatively simple pictorial decoration of his
mite, and entrusted the task to the painters Piero
lella Francesco, Luca da Cortona, Bartolomeo della
^tatta, Pietro Perugino, and Bramantino da Milano.
During the progress of the work the architect Bra-
iiante Lazzari of Urbino persuaded the pope to sum-
non his nephew Raphael Sanzio from Florence to
issist the others. One of the walls of the third room,
,he Stanza della Segnatura, was assigned to the
vinces) are all important compositions. The smaller
pictures and the socle paintings are of a simpler kind.
The painting of the ceiling was not finished until the
reign of Sixtus V. (2) The paintings in the second
hall, the Stanza d'Eliodoro, are almost exclusively by
Raphael. His most important fresco is the "Mass
of Bolsena", which represents how a priest, who did
not believe in transubstantiation, was converted when
the Blood ran from the Host after the Consecration.
"The Retreat of Attila" represents Leo I (beside
whom stand the Apostles Peter and Paul), with the
features of Leo X, and the pope's attendants are to
some extent contemporary portraits. This is an ex-
tremely effective and superbly coloured painting.
The light effects in the third fresco, "The Deliver-
ance of St. Peter", are wonderful. From the fourth
The Dome of St. Peter's, fbom the Vatican G
'oung Raphael, who between 1.508 and 1511 painted
here "Theolog>'" and the "Disputa"; these works so
lelighted the pope that he entrusted to Raphael the
lecoration of the entire Stanze. All other paintings
vere removed with the exception of those in the vault
pf the fourth room, where Pietro Perugino, Raphael's
eacher, had, infour parts, depicted: the adoration of
he Blessed Trinity by the Twelve .\postles, the
>aviour with Mercy and .Justice at his side, the Father
inthroned on the rainbow, and the Redeemer between
closes and .Jacob. Raphael could not accomplish this
a.sk, with his other commissions, unaided. The
ketches are aU his, but many of the paintings were
xecuted by his assistants and pupils, some after his
leath in 1.520.
(1) The first hall is called the Sala di Costantino. Phe frescoes were executed after Raphael's death by jiulio Romano, Francesco Penni, and R.affaello dal !^olle. The chief incident depicted on the longitu- linal wall is the battle of Milvian Bridge, which Con- tantine the Great fought against Maxentius. The )aptisni of Constantine, the presentation of Rome to iylvesler I by the emperor, and the latter's address o his troops concerning his dream {In hoc signo
picture, "Expulsion of Heliodonis from the Temple at
Jerusalem" (II Mach., iii), the hall has taken its
name. The brilhant painting, strength of expression,
and harmonious colour effects form the basis of the
fame of this masterpiece. The paintings on the ceil-
ing are poorly preserved.
(3) In the Stanza della Segnatura (the supreme court of justice, which sat here under the presidency of the pope) Raphael began his works. On the ceiling are "Theology", "Poetry", "Philo.sophy", and "Ju.s- tice". On the walls, under "Theologj'", is the "Dis- puta", the fundamental ideas for which were taken, according to the latest theories of Wilpert, from the " Last Judgment " of Pietro Cavallini, at Santa CeciUa in Rome. Wilpert has established doubtful iilenlities of the saints. The name "Disjuita", though in- appropriate, h.as clung to the painting. The diflicullies presented by the conditions of the hall were splendidly overcome by Raphael in the second picture, "Par- nas.sus". Apollo and the Muses, with Homer, Dante, Virgil, Sappho, Pind.ar, Horace, and many other per- sonages, are here united in one composition, which breathes forth the gladness and poetic strivings of the Renaissance. In the ' ' School of Athens "all branches
