An Amazing World in My Eyes: The Vatican

Showing posts with label The Vatican. Show all posts

Saturday, June 19, 2021

In defiance of Vatican, US bishops vote to advance Communion document

The Eucharist can not be used as a political weapon. Chris McLaughlin

Tuesday, December 1, 2020

The Vatican (Part 4)

The Sala Ducale lies between the Sala Regia and the Loggia of Giovanni da Udine. Formerly there were here two separate halls, which were converted into one by Bernini by the removal of the separating wall (the position of which is still clearly perceptible). The decorative paintings, which are of a purely ornamental nature, are by Raffaellino da Reggio, Sabbatini, and Matthæus Brill. In this impressive hall were formerly held the public consistories for the reception of ruling princes. It now serves occasionally for the reception of pilgrims, the consecration of bishops, when (as rarely happens) this is undertaken by the Pope, or is used for the accommodation of specified divisions of the papal household, when the pope holds a consistory in the Sala Regia, proceeds to the Sistine Chapel, or sets out with great solemnity for St. Peter’s.

The Sala Ducale

The four Raphael Rooms form a suite of reception rooms, now part of the Vatican Museums in Vatican City. They are famous for their frescoes, painted by Raphael and his workshop. Together with Michelangelo's Sistine Chapel ceiling frescoes, they are the grand fresco sequences that mark the High Renaissance in Rome. Raphael Rooms

The Stanze, as they are commonly called, were originally intended as a suite of apartments for Pope Julius II. He commissioned Raphael, then a relatively young artist from Urbino, and his studio in 1508 or 1509 to redecorate the existing interiors of the rooms entirely. It was possibly Julius' intent to outshine the apartments of his predecessor (and rival) Pope Alexander VI, as the Stanze are directly above Alexander's Borgia Apartment. They are on the third floor, overlooking the south side of the Belvedere Courtyard. Raphael Rooms


	Scuola di Atene The School of Athens	Between 1509 and 1511, Raphael also completed another work on the wall opposite the Disputa. This third painting, entitled The School of Athens, represents the degrees of knowledge or the truth acquired through reason. The fresco's position as well as the philosophers' walk in direction of the Holy Sacrament on the opposite wall suggested the interpretation of the whole room as the movement from the classical philosophy to the true religion and from the pre-Christian world to Christianity. It was meant to reside over the philosophical section of Pope Julius II's library. It is perhaps Raphael's most famous fresco. Raphael Rooms


	Raphael - Cardinal and Theological Virtues	The two scenes on the fourth wall, executed by the workshop, and the lunette above it, containing the Cardinal Virtues, were painted in 1511. The Cardinal Virtues allegorically presents the virtues of fortitude, prudence and temperance alongside charity, faith, and hope. Raphael Rooms


	Raphael - Disputation of the Holy Sacrament	The first composition Raphael executed between 1509 and 1510 was the Disputation of the Holy Sacrament, the traditional name for what is really an Adoration of the Sacrament. In the painting, Raphael created an image of the church, which is presented as spanning both heaven and earth. Raphael Rooms

Raphael - Raphael completed the second composition between 1509 and 1511. It represents The Parnassus, the dwelling place of the god Apollo and the Muses and the home of poetry, according to classical myth. In the fresco Apollo and the Muses are surrounded by poets from antiquity and Raphael's own time. Raphael Rooms

Estancia de Heliodoro Raphael Rooms

Raphael Rooms

Raphael - The Expulsion of Heliodorus from the Temple In The Expulsion of Heliodorus from the Temple Raphael illustrated the biblical episode from II Maccabees (3:21–28) about Heliodorus, who was sent to seize the treasure preserved in the Temple in Jerusalem, but was stopped when the prayer of the priest of the temple was answered by angels who flogged the intruder and an angelic rider who chased him from the temple. The composition is considerably more dramatic than Raphael's earlier frescoes in the Stanza della Segnatura. Although the focal point is the still figure of the priest at prayer, Heliodorus and the angels rush forward into space, threatening to spill out of the painting. At the left Julius II, carried by the Swiss Guard in a chair, witnesses the event. His inclusion here refers to his battles to prevent secular leaders from usurping papal territories. Raphael Rooms

Raphael The Deliverance of Saint Peter shows, in three episodes, how Saint Peter was liberated from prison by an angel, as described in Acts 12. It symbolizes the power of the Vicar of Christ to escape human restraints. Julius II's titular church as cardinal, before he was elevated to the papacy, had been S. Pietro in Vincoli (St. Peter in Chains), so the painting is at once a general reference to the papacy and a specific reference to Julius. The fresco is a study in light: natural moonlight, man-made torchlight, and God-provided angel light. It is the latter, of course, that outshines the others. Raphael Rooms

Raphael - Ceiling of the Room of Eliodorus Raphael Rooms

Borgo Fire Room. Raphael Rooms

Raphael - Battle of Ostia Raphael Rooms

Raphael - Fire in the Borgo Raphael Rooms

Raphael - Coronation of Charlemagne Raphael Rooms

Raphael - Oath of Leo III Raphael Rooms

Estancia. Raphael Rooms

School of Raphael - Vision of the Cross The fresco of The Vision of the Cross depicts the legendary story of a great cross appearing to Constantine as he marched to confront his rival Maxentius. The vision in the sky is painted with the words in Greek "Εν τούτω νίκα" ("By this, conquer", better known as the Latin In hoc signo vinces) written next to it. Raphael Rooms

Giulio Romano - The Battle of the Milvian Bridge The Battle of Milvian Bridge shows the battle that took place on October 28, 312, following Constantine's vision. Raphael Rooms


	Giannfrancesco Penni - Baptism of Constantine	The third painting in the sequence, The Baptism of Constantine, was most likely painted by Gianfrancesco Penni, and shows the emperor being baptised by Pope Sylvester I in the Lateran Baptistery at Rome, following the account of Constantine's baptism given in the Acts of Sylvester and the Liber Pontificalis (and not the different deathbed version recounted in Eusebius's Life of Constantine). Raphael Rooms

The final painting in the sequence, The Donation of Constantine, records an event that supposedly took place shortly after Constantine's baptism, and was inspired by the famous forged documents, incorporated into Gratian's Decretum, granting the Papacy sovereignty over Rome's territorial dominions. Raphael Rooms

Tommaso Laureti - Ceiling of Room of Constantine Raphael Rooms

The Vatican (Part 3) The Sistine Chapel

The Sistine Chapel is a chapel in the Apostolic Palace, the official residence of the pope, in Vatican City. Originally known as the Cappella Magna ('Great Chapel'), the chapel takes its name from Pope Sixtus IV, who restored it between 1473 and 1481. Since that time, the chapel has served as a place of both religious and functionary papal activity. Today, it is the site of the papal conclave, the process by which a new pope is selected. The fame of the Sistine Chapel lies mainly in the frescos that decorate the interior, most particularly the Sistine Chapel ceiling and The Last Judgment by Michelangelo. During the reign of Sixtus IV, a team of Renaissance painters that included Sandro Botticelli, Pietro Perugino, Pinturicchio, Domenico Ghirlandaio and Cosimo Rosselli, created a series of frescos depicting the Life of Moses and the Life of Christ, offset by papal portraits above and trompe-l'œil drapery below. These paintings were completed in 1482, and on 15 August 1483 Sixtus IV celebrated the first mass in the Sistine Chapel for the Feast of the Assumption, at which ceremony the chapel was consecrated and dedicated to the Virgin Mary. Between 1508 and 1512, under the patronage of Pope Julius II, Michelangelo painted the chapel's ceiling, a project which changed the course of Western art and is regarded as one of the major artistic accomplishments of human civilization. In a different climate, after the Sack of Rome, he returned and, between 1535 and 1541, painted The Last Judgment for Popes Clement VII and Paul III. The fame of Michelangelo's paintings has drawn multitudes of visitors to the chapel ever since they were revealed five hundred years ago.

The Sistine Chapel as it may have appeared in the 15th century (19th-century drawing)

Sistine Chapel in 2017

Exterior of the Sistine Chapel

A reconstruction of the appearance of Sistine Chapel in the 1480s, prior to the painting of the ceiling

Diagram of part of the vertical fresco decoration of the Sistine Chapel

Trials of Moses by Botticelli Sistine Chapel

The Delivery of the Keys by Perugino Sistine Chapel

Hendrick van den Broeck - Resurrección de Cristo Sistine Chapel

The Creation of Adam by Michelangelo Sistine Chapel

A section of the Sistine Chapel ceiling

Michelangelo's The Last Judgement Sistine Chapel

Daniel, before and after restoration. Sistine Chapel

Raphael tapestries in the Sistine Chapel

View of The Last Judgement as originally painted by Michelangelo Sistine Chapel

Drawing by Pinturicchio of Perugino's lost Assumption in the Sistine Chapel.

Wednesday, July 1, 2020

The Vatican (Part 2.)

Panorama of the gardens from atop St. Peter's Basilica

Tower of Nicholas V

Palace of Sixtus V

The Pope's window from which he delivers the angelus.

The Papal apartments is the non-official designation for the collection of apartments, which are private, state, and religious, that wrap around a courtyard (the Courtyard of Sixtus V, Cortile di Sisto V) on two sides of the third (top) floor of the Apostolic Palace in Vatican City.

The apartments include about ten large rooms including a vestibule, a small studio office for the papal secretary, the pope's private study, the pope's bedroom in the corner of the building, a medical suite (which includes dental equipment and equipment for emergency surgery), a dining room, a small living room, and the kitchen. There is a roof garden and staff quarters for the nuns (German Benedictines) who run the Prefecture of the Pontifical Household (Papal Household). It is from the window of his small study that the pope greets and blesses pilgrims to Saint Peter's Square on Sundays. The private library has been described as a "vast room with two windows overlooking Saint Peter's Square." The pope's private chapel occupies the top storey on the east side of the Cortile di Sisto V.

1 St. Peter's Basilica 2 Sistine Chapel 3 Sala Regia (Royal Hall) 4 Scala Regia 4b Scala Regia (part below the Sala Regia) 5 Cappella Paolina 6 Sala Ducale (Ducal Hall) 7 Northern arm of the colonnades 8 St. Peter's Square 9 Benedictine assembly hall

A model of the palace in the Vatican Museums. The buildings are arranged around a central courtyard

The Apostolic Palace is run by the Prefecture of the Pontifical Household. The palace is more accurately a series of self-contained buildings within the well-recognized outer structure which is arranged around the Courtyard of Sixtus V (Cortile di Sisto V). It is located northeast of St Peter's Basilica and adjacent to the Bastion of Nicholas V and Palace of Gregory XIII.

The Apostolic Palace houses both residential and support offices of various functions as well as administrative offices not focused on the life and functions of the Pope himself.

Plan of the Apostolic Palace (1893–1901)

The Portone di Bronzo at the Vatican Apostolic Palace entrance.

Scala Regia by Gian Lorenzo Bernini

The official entrance to the Apostolic Palace is the Portone di Bronzo at the north side of St Peter's Square.

The door opens to the Scala Regia, which leads up to the Sala Regia, which in turn connects to the Sistine Chapel and the Pauline Chapel. Tourists are allowed to climb the staircase to enter the Sala Regia.

Scala Regia is a flight of steps in the Vatican City and is part of the formal entrance to the Vatican. It was designed by Gian Lorenzo Bernini.

The Scala Regia was built by Antonio da Sangallo the Younger in the early 16th century and was restored by Gian Lorenzo Bernini from 1663 to 1666.

The site for the stairs, a comparatively narrow sliver of land between church and palace, is awkwardly shaped with irregular converging walls. Bernini used a number of typically theatrical, baroque effects in order to exalt this entry point into the Vatican. The staircase proper takes the form of a barrel-vaulted colonnade that necessarily becomes narrower at the end of the vista, exaggerating the distance. Above the arch at the beginning of this vista is the coat of arms of Alexander VII, flanked by two sculpted angels.

The statue of Constantine by Bernini shows the emperor in the traditional episode of the cross appearing to him before the battle of Ponte Milvio. Behind the statue a drape painted in red and gold (made in stucco) emphasizes the movement of the horse and the pictorial effect of the monument. The statue was criticized for the unnatural posture of the horse.

The Vision
The statue is completed by the cross and the inscription In hoc signo vinces (by adopting this symbol you will win).

Bernini renovated an existing stairway, that served as an entrance to the Sala Regia and had to connect the church to the palace. The old stairs dated from the 16th century and had been built by Bramante and Antonio da Sangallo the younger.

The Scala Regia is located between St Peter’s and the south wing of the Vatican palace. To gain access to the palace the visitor had to make all kinds of stra... See More

Gian Lorenzo needed much more than a corridor to create a beautiful stairway. The old one was narrow, quite dark and made a gloomy impression. The stairs ran under the old rooms of the palace , that were supported by the vaults of the corridor. Bernini radically renovated this corridor. A big window was built before the start of the steps and another at the landing halfway up the stairway. And finally a third window at the end of the stairs where a visitor has to make a 180 degree turn to walk up the Scala’s last flight of steps. This section leads to the door of the Sala Regia. Bernini did not make any major alterations to the narrow stairway just before the Sala Regia, he only put in a ceiling and new plastering on the walls. Bernini did create skylights in the new vault.

Coat of arms of Pope Alexander VII

Detail of the decoration
The decoration is extremely rich: you may notice that the flowers are all different.

Statue of Charlemagne
The statue of Constantine was matched in the Portico by a statue of Charlemagne (who was crowned in S. Pietro in 800). This too is a very complex monument with a combination of sculpture and painting and a sophisticated perspective. It was built during the pontificate of Pope Clement XI, whose coat of arms decorates the ceiling of this section of the Portico. The statue is by Agostino Cornacchini. Charlemagne is parading like an XVIIIth century gentleman.

View from top The Scala Regia

The chapel of Saints Peter and Paul , better known by the name of the Pauline chapel (from the name of Pope Paul III who had it designed, built and frescoed), is a chapel of the Apostolic Palace in the Vatican City .

It had the functions of a "parva" palatine chapel, that is, a small one, as opposed to the "magna" chapel, that is, the Sistine Chapel . Here the Blessed Sacrament was exposed and, until 1670 , it was used during the conclave to collect vows, by virtue of its proximity to the Sistine Chapel , from which it is separated only from the Sala Regia

View from the dome of San Pietro of the Apostolic Palace : the Pauline chapel is in the lower right.

Stoning of Saint Stephen by Lorenzo Sabatini (left), Conversion of Saul by Michelangelo (center) and Baptism of Paul by Lorenzo Sabatini (right). Pauline Chapel, Pontifical Palaces, Vatican

Baptism of the centurion by Federico Zuccari (left), Crucifixion of St. Peter by Michelangelo (center) and Fall of Simon Mago by Lorenzo Sabatini (right). Pauline Chapel, Pontifical Palaces, Vatican

The altar. Pauline Chapel, Pontifical Palaces, Vatican

Southern wall of the Sala Regia and portal of the chapel Pauline Chapel, Pontifical Palaces, Vatican

Vault of the nave Pauline Chapel, Pontifical Palaces, Vatican

Release of Saint Peter from the prison of Federico Zuccari Pauline Chapel, Pontifical Palaces, Vatican

Stoup Pauline Chapel, Pontifical Palaces, Vatican

Dophor angels by Prospero Antichi
Pauline Chapel, Pontifical Palaces, Vatican

Vault of the apse
Pauline Chapel, Pontifical Palaces, Vatican

Tapestry of the Presentation of Jesus in the Temple
Pauline Chapel, Pontifical Palaces, Vatican

Tapestry of Pentecost
Pauline Chapel, Pontifical Palaces, Vatican

The Pauline Chapel

The Sala Regia of the Apostolic Palace is a hall of honor located inside the Apostolic Palace , in the Vatican City ; its main entrance is the Scala Regia (along the western wall). From the Sala Regia you can access the Benediction Hall and the Ducal Room (eastern wall) and the Pauline chapels (southern wall) and Sistine (western wall).