STANZE OR CAMERE OF RAPHAEL,
consisting of four rooms designed by Raphael, and completed by his pupils after his death, to illustrate the triumphs and establishment of the Catholic Church. The principal frescoes are:—
In the First Room.—On the right, the Incendio del Borgo, A.D. 847; over the window, Justification of Leo III.; in front, Victory of Leo IV. over the Saracens at Ostia; and opposite, Coronation of Charlemagne. The chiaro-oscuro portraits, below, by Caravaggio, represent the princes who first gave tribute to the Church. The roof is by Perugino, Raphael's master.
Second Room.—Illustrative of Theology, on the entry wall; Poetry, over the window; Philosophy, in front; and Jurisprudence, on the right. Representations of the Fall of Man, the Flaying of Marsyas, the Study of the Globe, the Judgment of Solomon, on the ceiling. On the walls corresponding—the Dispute on the Sacrament, Mount Parnassus, the School of Athens (a portico crowded with philosophers, which gives its name to the room), Prudence, Fortitude, and Temperance.
Third Room.—In front, the Miraculous Expulsion of Heliodorus from the Temple; on the right, the Mass of Bolsena; on the entry wall, Attila driven back from Rome by Leo I.; over the left window, S. Peter's Release from Prison (notice the four different lights here). The ceiling represents subjects from the Old Testament.
Fourth Room.—On the right, Battle between Constantine and Maxentius at the Ponte Molle; entry wall, Baptism of Constantine; left wall, Rome presented by Constantine to Silvester; in front, the Cross appearing to Constantine (the dwarf is Gradasso da Norcia, from Berni's Poetry); on the vault, the pagan statue thrown down represents the Triumph of Faith, by Lauretti (notice the wonderful bit of perspective here); on the right-hand corner, a door leads into the Anticamera of the Stanze, originally painted by Raphael, restored by Carlo Maratta. Out of this room is
THE CHAPEL OF S. LORENZO.
The frescoes are by Fra Angelico, representing events in the lives of SS. Stephen and Laurence. On the ceiling are the four Evangelists. It was built as the private chapel of Nicholas V., and is the oldest decorated portion of the Vatican. We now pass into
THE LOGGIE OF RAPHAEL,
to the right on entering.