Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of Illustrations
- Map
- Acknowledgements and Editorial Note
- List of Contributors
- Chapter One The Educated Traveller’s Guide
- Chapter Two Pope Leo I the Great (ca. 400–461, r. 440–61 CE) at the Basilica di S. Pietro and the Basilica dei Santi Giovanni e Paolo
- Chapter Three Saint Dominic de Guzmán (ca. 1170–1221 CE ) at the Basilicas of S. Marco al Campidoglio, San Sisto Vecchio, and Santa Sabina
- Chapter Four John Keats (1795–1821 CE ) and Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792–1822 CE ) at the Keats-Shelley House and the Cimitero Acattolico
- Chapter Five Julius Caesar (100–44 BCE ) at the Teatro di Pompeo, Rostra, Tempio del Divo Giulio, and Basilica Giulia
- Chapter Six Empress Livia (58 BCE –29 CE ) on the Palatino
- Chapter Seven Emperor Hadrian (76–138 CE ) at Castel Sant’Angelo, the Pantheon, and the Tempio di Venere e Roma
- Chapter Eight Pope Clement I of Rome (ca. 35–99 or 101, r. 88–99 or 101 CE ) at the Basilica di San Clemente
- Chapter Nine Emperor Constantine (ca. 277–337, r. 324–37 CE) at the Arco di Costantino, the Basilica di San Giovanni in Laterano, and the Basilica dei Santi Quattro Coronati
- Chapter Ten Pope Paul III (1468–1549, r. 1534–49 CE ), Michelangelo Buonarroti (1475–1564), and the Campidoglio
- Chapter Eleven St. Thomas Aquinas (1225–74 CE ) at Santa Sabina, the Angelicum, and the Basilica di Santa Maria Sopra Minerva
- Chapter Twelve Maria Clementina Sobieska (1702–35 CE) at the Basilica di S. Pietro, Palazzo Muti, and the Basilica dei XII Santi Apostoli
- Chapter Thirteen Pope Urban VIII (1568–1644, r. 1623–44 CE ) at the Basilica di S. Pietro, Fontana del Tritone, and Palazzo Barberini
- Chapter Fourteen John Henry Newman (1801–90 CE ) at the Palazzo di Propaganda Fide, Basilica di Sant’Andrea delle Fratte, and the Chiesa di S. Giorgio in Velabro
- Chapter Fifteen Philip Neri (1515–95 CE) at the Catacombe di S. Sebastiano, the Chiesa di San Girolamo della Carità, the Basilica di San Giovanni dei Fiorentini, and the Chiesa Nuova
- Chapter Sixteen Pope Julius II (1443–1513, r. 1503–13 CE) at the Basilica di San Pietro, the Musei Vaticani, and Basilica di San Pietro in Vincoli
- Chapter Seventeen St. Peter (ca. 10–64 CE ) and St. Paul (5–67 CE ) at the Basilica di San Pietro, the Basilica di San Paolo Fuori le Mura, and the Abbazia delle Tre Fontane
- Chapter Eighteen Raphael Sanzio (1483–1520 CE ), Tommaso “Fedra” Inghirami (1470–1516 CE ), and Pope Julius II (1443–1513, r. 1503–13 CE ) at the Stanza della Segnatura (1508–11 CE )
- Chapter Nineteen Michelangelo Buonarroti (1475–1564 CE )at the Cappella Sistina
- Appendix A Concordance of Place Names
- Appendix B Timeline of the People and Places Mentioned in this Volume
- Index
Chapter Eighteen - Raphael Sanzio (1483–1520 CE ), Tommaso “Fedra” Inghirami (1470–1516 CE ), and Pope Julius II (1443–1513, r. 1503–13 CE ) at the Stanza della Segnatura (1508–11 CE )
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 20 November 2020
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of Illustrations
- Map
- Acknowledgements and Editorial Note
- List of Contributors
- Chapter One The Educated Traveller’s Guide
- Chapter Two Pope Leo I the Great (ca. 400–461, r. 440–61 CE) at the Basilica di S. Pietro and the Basilica dei Santi Giovanni e Paolo
- Chapter Three Saint Dominic de Guzmán (ca. 1170–1221 CE ) at the Basilicas of S. Marco al Campidoglio, San Sisto Vecchio, and Santa Sabina
- Chapter Four John Keats (1795–1821 CE ) and Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792–1822 CE ) at the Keats-Shelley House and the Cimitero Acattolico
- Chapter Five Julius Caesar (100–44 BCE ) at the Teatro di Pompeo, Rostra, Tempio del Divo Giulio, and Basilica Giulia
- Chapter Six Empress Livia (58 BCE –29 CE ) on the Palatino
- Chapter Seven Emperor Hadrian (76–138 CE ) at Castel Sant’Angelo, the Pantheon, and the Tempio di Venere e Roma
- Chapter Eight Pope Clement I of Rome (ca. 35–99 or 101, r. 88–99 or 101 CE ) at the Basilica di San Clemente
- Chapter Nine Emperor Constantine (ca. 277–337, r. 324–37 CE) at the Arco di Costantino, the Basilica di San Giovanni in Laterano, and the Basilica dei Santi Quattro Coronati
- Chapter Ten Pope Paul III (1468–1549, r. 1534–49 CE ), Michelangelo Buonarroti (1475–1564), and the Campidoglio
- Chapter Eleven St. Thomas Aquinas (1225–74 CE ) at Santa Sabina, the Angelicum, and the Basilica di Santa Maria Sopra Minerva
- Chapter Twelve Maria Clementina Sobieska (1702–35 CE) at the Basilica di S. Pietro, Palazzo Muti, and the Basilica dei XII Santi Apostoli
- Chapter Thirteen Pope Urban VIII (1568–1644, r. 1623–44 CE ) at the Basilica di S. Pietro, Fontana del Tritone, and Palazzo Barberini
- Chapter Fourteen John Henry Newman (1801–90 CE ) at the Palazzo di Propaganda Fide, Basilica di Sant’Andrea delle Fratte, and the Chiesa di S. Giorgio in Velabro
- Chapter Fifteen Philip Neri (1515–95 CE) at the Catacombe di S. Sebastiano, the Chiesa di San Girolamo della Carità, the Basilica di San Giovanni dei Fiorentini, and the Chiesa Nuova
- Chapter Sixteen Pope Julius II (1443–1513, r. 1503–13 CE) at the Basilica di San Pietro, the Musei Vaticani, and Basilica di San Pietro in Vincoli
- Chapter Seventeen St. Peter (ca. 10–64 CE ) and St. Paul (5–67 CE ) at the Basilica di San Pietro, the Basilica di San Paolo Fuori le Mura, and the Abbazia delle Tre Fontane
- Chapter Eighteen Raphael Sanzio (1483–1520 CE ), Tommaso “Fedra” Inghirami (1470–1516 CE ), and Pope Julius II (1443–1513, r. 1503–13 CE ) at the Stanza della Segnatura (1508–11 CE )
- Chapter Nineteen Michelangelo Buonarroti (1475–1564 CE )at the Cappella Sistina
- Appendix A Concordance of Place Names
- Appendix B Timeline of the People and Places Mentioned in this Volume
- Index
Summary
A Room with Many Conversations
The Stanza della Segnatura is an elegant, modest-sized room on the second floor of the Vatican palace (now the Musei Vaticani) designed to house Pope Julius II's personal library. The room was decorated by Raphael in the early years of the sixteenth century. Like many great works of art, Raphael's Stanza asks the visitor to stay awhile, to dwell with it, a proposal particularly apt for a library. Art historian Timothy Verdon distinguishes the Renaissance visitor from today's typical learned viewer: “Renaissance visitors to the Stanza della Segnatura ‘registered’ the frescoes with their eyes and ‘read’ them with mind and heart—poetic processes that differed substantially … from those with which modern art historians read them” (Verdon 116–17). As we shall see, the walls of the Stanza portray many conversations, inviting the viewer to be part of them.
The paintings of this room tell two stories. One is the story of the characters depicted, for the most part “heroes” who played important roles in the tradition of ancient classical learning. This learning was in the process of recovery by Renaissance scholars, builders, poets, and artists. The second story is that of the three men most responsible for the room's program and embellishments: the program's inventor, Tommaso “Fedra” Inghirami (1470–1516); its painter, Raphael Sanzio (1483–1520); and its patron, Pope Julius II (1443–1513, r. 1503–13). What is expressed on the room's frescoed walls and ceiling is informed by the humanism that developed in papal Rome during the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. Every least detail of Raphael's painting fits into a unified program that portrays the intellectual, cultural, and spiritual aspirations of Rome's renewal after a long period of decline. Part of the wonder and delight of visiting the Stanza is understanding what it all signifies.
In this regard, scholars in the last half of the twentieth century have greatly advanced our understanding of the Renaissance humanism specific to Rome, including questions of the influence of humanism on artistic programs such as that of the Stanza. John F. D’Amico and John W. O’Malley are just two among these scholars.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- People and Places of the Roman PastThe Educated Traveller's Guide, pp. 211 - 224Publisher: Amsterdam University PressPrint publication year: 2019