Greek polymath Hypatia of Alexandria was a genius mathematician, philosopher, astronomer and all round pioneering female intellectual. Her influence and beauty are legendary. Sadly, Hypatia was also pagan at a time when Christianity was becoming increasingly de rigueur, and she suffered a grim execution in 415 AD at the hands of some angry monks.
The altarpiece illustrates two episodes narrated in succession in the Gospel according to Matthew: the Transfiguration above, with Christ in glory between the prophets Moses and Elijah, and below, in the foreground, the meeting of the Apostles with the obsessed youth who will be miraculously cured by Christ on his return from Mount Tabor.
As Raphael's last painting, it appears as the spiritual testament of the artist. The work is considered in his biography, written by the famous artist and biographer of the 16th century, Giorgio Vasari, as "the most famous, the most beautiful and most divine".
The Crowning of the Virgin was originally painted for the altar of the Oddi Chapel in the church of S. Francesco al Prato in Perugia. In the upper part of the composition, among angel musicians, Christ crowns the Virgin, while in the lower part the Apostles – among whom are St Thomas, with the girdle which he had received as a gift from the Virgin – are arranged around the tomb. The tomb contains flowers in place of the Virgin who has ascended to heaven.
This was an early work of Raphael’s and has been recognised for its closeness in style to that of his maestro Perugino. The predella illustrates three episodes from Christ's infancy: the Annunciation, the Adoration of the Magi and the Presentation in the Temple.
The Fire in the Borgo – which lends this particular room in the Vatican’s Apostolic Palace its name – shows an event that is documented in the Liber Pontificalis: a fire that broke out in the Borgo, the neighbourhood in front of St Peter's basilica in Rome, in 847.
According to legend, Pope Leo IV miraculously extinguished the fire with his benediction, thus saving the church and the people. The young man with an old man on his back in the foreground is an echo of the classical theme of Aeneas carrying his father Anchises from the fires of Troy; it is therefore an allusion to the traditional idea that Rome was the new Troy.
The Disputation of the Holy Sacrament was the first part of Raphael's commission to decorate with frescoes the Apostolic Palace of the Vatican, and his first painting completed. It is opposite to his most famous work, The School of Athens.
The title of the painting should more rightly the Triumph of Religion. At the sides of the Most Holy Trinity (with God the Father, Christ between the Virgin and St John the Baptist, and the Holy Spirit in the centre) is the Triumphant Church, with patriarchs and prophets of the Old Testament alternated with apostles and martyrs, seated in a hemicycle on the clouds.
From left to right for the viewer are: St Peter, Adam, St John the Evangelist, David, St Laurence, Judas Maccabees, St Stephen, Moses, St James the elder, Abraham, St Paul. On the ground, at the sides of the altar dominated by the Most Holy Sacrament, is the Militant Church. On the marble thrones closest to the altar sit four Fathers of the Latin Church: St Gregory the Great (a portrait of Julius II), St Jerome, St Ambrose and St Augustine. Some other figures have the physiognomy of historical personages, including Sixtus IV (Julius II's uncle), Dante Alighieri and Beato Angelico.
The School of Athens is one of the most famous paintings by the Italian Renaissance artist Raphael, long seen as his “masterpiece and the perfect embodiment of the classical spirit of the High Renaissance."
In the painting, the most famous philosophers of ancient times move within an imposing Renaissance architecture inspired by Bramante's project for the renewal of the early Christian basilica of St Peter.
In the centre Plato points upwards with a finger and holds his book Timeus in his hand, flanked by Aristotle with Ethics; Pythagoras is shown in the foreground intent on explaining the diatesseron. Diogenes is lying on the stairs with a dish. The pessimist philosopher, Heracleitus, is leaning against a block of marble, writing on a sheet of paper. On the right we see Euclid teaching geometry to his pupils, Zoroaster holding the heavenly sphere and Ptolemy holding the earthly sphere. On the very right with the black beret is a self-portrait of Raphael.
The Expulsion of Heliodorus is located in the Hall of Helidorus, and illustrates the biblical episode (2 Maccabees, 3:21-28) of Heliodorus.
Helidorus was sent by the king of Syria Seleucus to take over the treasure preserved in the temple of Jerusalem. At the request of the high priest Onias, God sent a horseman assisted by two youths who beat and banish Heliodorus.
Added into the scene is commissioning pontiff, who is shown as a witness (in the foreground on the left) seated in a chair carried on the shoulders of the chair bearers. On the left is a portrait of Marcantonio Raimondi, engraver and friend of Raphael, while Raphael is himself portrayed as the other figure to the right.
The Mass of Bolsena is located in the Room of Heliodorus. It depicts an episode that took place in 1263 in Bolsena, near Orvieto, during the Mass celebrated by a Bohemian priest.
At the moment of consecration the blood of Christ trickled from the host, staining the corporal and thus dismissing the doubts of the celebrant on transubstantiation (the changing of the bread and wine into the body and blood of Christ in the Eucharist). The miracle led to the establishment of the feast of Corpus Christ and the construction of the cathedral of Orvieto, to which the corporal was transferred. Julius II (pontiff from 1503 to 1513), witnessed the miracle, and is shown kneeling to the right of the altar.
The Baptism of Constantine is displayed in the Hall of Constantine. It shows the emperor kneeling to receive the sacrament from Pope Sylvester inside the Baptistery of the Lateran. The pontiff appears to be Clement VII (pontiff from 1523 to 1534), during whose pontificate work on the room was resumed, after its brief interruption during the interval of Hadrian VI (who was pontiff from 1521 to 1523), and the last two stories were painted.
The Vision of the Cross is located in the "Hall of Constantine". It portrays the premonition that the emperor Constantine had before the battle against Maxentius, on October 28 312. According to this premonition, he would have been victorious if he had substituted the imperial eagles on the soldiers' standards with the cross, thus officially recognizing the Christian religion. The view of Rome (on the right in the background) with the reconstruction of its ancient monuments is worth noting.
Painted in the Mannerist style, it is a crowded and confused melee and melange of images, which includes a dragon, a dwarf, two popes, and various symbols. The proportions of the figures seems to be confused, with some dwarfed by more distant figures.
