RAPHAEL IN THE VATICAN

In the Vatican are the masterpieces that Raphael designed and realized on behalf of two Popes Julius II and Leo X: the Raphael Rooms, the Loggias and the cartoons for the Sistine Chapel.

Raphael designed the Rooms throughout all the Roman period, thus the Rooms allow us to trace the evolution of Raphael language, representing at the same time one of the vertices of the visual arts.

The chronology of the Rooms is as follows:

Room of the Segnatura 1508 - 1511
Vault 1508
Dispute at the Eucharist 1509
School of Athens 1509 - 1511
Parnassus 1510 - 1511
Virtue and Law 1511

Room of Heliodorus 1511 - 1514
Vault 1511
Expulsion of Heliodorus from the Temple 1511 - 1512
Mass of Bolsena 1512
Liberation of St. Peter 1513 - 1514
Meeting of Leo the Great and Attila 1514

Room of the Fire 1514 - 1517
Fire in the Borgo 1514
Battle of Ostia 1514 - 1515
Coronation of Charlemagne 1516 - 1517
Justification of Leo III 1517
The ceiling was decorated with frescoes by Perugino and his workshop earlier

Room of Constantine 1517 - 1524 the frescoes were painted after Raphael's death (1520), according to the cartoons left by Raphael himself.
Vision of the Cross
Battle of Constantine against Maxentius
Baptism of Constantine
Donation of Rome
The ceiling was painted by Thomas Laureti from 1583.

The Loggias of Raphael in the Apostolic Palace, were designed by Bramante for Julius II, but died in quick succession, the Pope (1513), and the architect (1514), Leo X commissioned Raphael the task to decorate them.
The works began in 1518 with the loggia on the second floor, 65 meters long, which adjoins the Hall of Constantine.
Then, on the first floor, the so-called first loggia was decorated with frescoes made entirely from the workshop. These paintings have been lost.
The last loggia of Raphael, located on the third floor of the Apostolic Palace, is known as the Loggia of Cardinal Bibbiena and is flanked by a small space named the Stufetta (=little stove), of Cardinal Bibbiena, it was painted by Giulio Romano, Giovanni Francesco Penni, Perin del Vaga, Giovanni da Udine, Polidoro da Caravaggio.

The cartoons for the tapestries of the Sistine Chapel were commissioned by Pope Leo X to Raphael and were painted in 1515 - 16.

To see the Rooms, the Loggias and the Cartoons the clickable map below can help you:

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