THE VATICAN a l l t h e pai n t i n g s The Complete Collection of Old Masters Plus More than 300 Sculptures, Maps, Tapestries, and Relics
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i. pinacoteca
Melozzo da Forli, 1438-1494
SALA IV
Angel playing the Viola da Braccio, c. 1480 113 cm x 91 cm; Detached fresco Sala IV; Inv. 40269.14.5 Melozzo da Forli, 1438-1494 Angel playing the Drum, c. 1480 113 cm x 91 cm; Detached fresco Sala IV; Inv. 40269.14.7 Melozzo da Forli, 1438-1494 Musical Angel with Tambour, ca. 1480 113 cm x 91 cm; Detached fresco Sala IV; Inv. 40269.14.10
Melozzo da Forli Angel Playing the Lute
Melozzo da Forli, 1438-1494 Musical Angel with the Ribeca, ca. 1480 113 cm x 91 cm; Detached fresco Sala IV; Inv. 40269.14.11
The 14 fragments with the Apostles and Angel musicians (these too exhibited in room IV) together with the figure of Christ, (now in the Quirinal Palace) were part of the old decoration of the apse of the Church of the SS. Apostoli in Rome illustrating the Ascension of Christ. The fresco, which was destroyed in 1711, was painted by Melozzo da Forlì around 1480, shortly after the works of restoration on the church for cardinal Giuliano della Rovere, the future Pope Julius II (pontiff from 1503 to 1513). The solemn, monumental figures, strongly foreshortened, testify to the full maturity of the great artist from Forlì, a follower of Piero della Francesca, and his skill in the use of perspective. The 14 fragments with the Apostles and Angel musicians (these too exhibited in room IV) together with the figure of Christ, (now in the Quirinal Palace) were part of the old decoration of the apse of the Church of the SS. Apostoli in Rome illustrating the Ascension of Christ. The fresco, which was destroyed in 1711, was painted by Melozzo da Forlì around 1480, shortly after the works of restoration on the church for cardinal Giuliano della Rovere, the future Pope Julius II (pontiff from 1503 to 1513). The solemn, monumental figures, strongly foreshortened, testify to the full maturity of the great artist from Forlì, a follower of Piero della Francesca, and his skill in the use of perspective. Melozzo da Forli, 1438-1494 Angel Playing the Lute, c. 1480 101 cm x 70 cm; Detached fresco Sala IV; Inv. 40269.14.1
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pinacoteca: sala iv
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SALA XII Valentin de Boulogne, 1594-1632 Martyrdom of Saints Processus and Martinian, 1629 302 cm x 192 cm; Oil on canvas Room XII; Inv 40381 Andrea Sacchi, 1599-1661 Miracle of St Gregory, 1631 310 cm x 175 cm; Oil on canvas Room XII; Inv 40382 Guercino (Giovanni Francesco Barbieri), 1591-1666 The Incredulity of Saint Thomas, ca. 1630 120 cm x 143 cm; Oil on canvas Room XII; Inv 40383 Pensionante del Saraceni, active 1610-1620 Denial of St Peter, ca. 1610 100 cm x 129 cm; Oil on canvas Room XII; Inv. 40385 Guido Reni, 1575-1642 Virgin Mary in Glory with Saints Thomas and Jerome, 1634 340 cm x 210 cm; Oil on canvas Room XII; Inv. 40389 Guercino (Giovanni Francesco Barbieri), 1591-1666 John the Baptist, 1622 65 cm x 56 cm; Oil on canvas Room XII; Inv. 40393
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t h e vat i c a n : a l l t h e pa i n t i n g s
Guercino (Giovanni Francesco Barbieri)
Guido Reni
When Alessandro Ludovisi, formerly the cardinal archbishop of Bologna, became Pope Gregory XV (1621—25), artists who had worked for his family in his native city were called to Rome, among them Domenichino, Guido Rent, Albani, and Guercino, the latter responding to the pope’s invitation in 1621. The Penitent Magdalen was painted for the church of Santa Maria Maddalena delle Convertite in Rome’s Via del Corso. The church was damaged by fire in January 1617 and rebuilt during the pontificate of Paul V (1605—21) under the patronage of Cardinal Pietro Aldobrandini (who may have also commissioned the painting). The artist depicted the meeting between Mary Magdalene and the angels in front of Christ’s empty sepulcher as narrated in the Gospel of John (20:11-15). The painting is striking for its classical, almost statuesque figures, its dense tonal values, and the clever chiaroscuro play of the splendid landscape and sky. The monumental figure’s almost heroic aspect is underlined by the skillfully painted drapery and commanding pose which dominate the picture plane. Guercino emphasizes the clasped hands of the kneeling saint, whose face is contorted in sorrow as she leans against the closed tomb - empty now that Christ has risen.
When Alessandro Ludovisi, formerly the cardinal archbishop of Bologna, became Pope Gregory XV (1621—25), artists who had worked for his family in his native city were called to Rome, among them Domenichino, Guido Rent, Albani, and Guercino, the latter responding to the pope’s invitation in 1621. The Penitent Magdalen was painted for the church of Santa Maria Maddalena delle Convertite in Rome’s Via del Corso. The church was damaged by fire in January 1617 and rebuilt during the pontificate of Paul V (1605—21) under the patronage of Cardinal Pietro Aldobrandini (who may have also commissioned the painting). The artist depicted the meeting between Mary Magdalene and the angels in front of Christ’s empty sepulcher as narrated in the Gospel of John (20:11-15). The painting is striking for its classical, almost statuesque figures, its dense tonal values, and the clever chiaroscuro play of the splendid landscape and sky. The monumental figure’s almost heroic aspect is underlined by the skillfully painted drapery and commanding pose which dominate the picture plane. Guercino emphasizes the clasped hands of the kneeling saint, whose face is contorted in sorrow as she leans against the closed tomb - empty now that Christ has risen.
Guercino (Giovanni Francesco Barbieri), 1591-1666
Guido Reni, 1575-1642
Mary Magdalene Penitent with Two Angels, 1622
Saint Matthew the Evangelist, ca. 1600
222 cm x 200 cm; Oil on canvas
85 cm x 68 cm; Oil on canvas
Room XII; Inv. 40391
Room XII; Inv. 40395
Mary Magdalene Penitent with Two Angels
Saint Matthew the Evangelist
pinacoteca: sala xii
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Caravaggio (Michelangelo Merisi da) The Deposition
The Deposition, considered one of Caravaggio’s greatest masterpieces, was commissioned by Girolamo Vittrice for his family chapel in S. Maria in Vallicella (Chiesa Nuova) in Rome. In 1797 it was included in the group of works transferred to Paris in execution of the Treaty of Tolentino. After its return in 1817 it became part of Pius VII’s Pinacoteca. Caravaggio did not really portray the Burial or the Deposition in the traditional way, inasmuch as Christ is not shown at the moment when he is laid in the tomb, but rather when, in the presence of the holy women, he is laid by Nicodemus and John on the Anointing Stone, that is the stone with which the sepulchre will be closed. Around the body of Christ are the Virgin, Mary Magdalene, John, Nicodemus and Mary of Cleophas, who raises her arms and eyes to heaven in a gesture of high dramatic tension. Caravaggio, who arrived in Rome in 1592, was the protagonist of a real artistic revolution as regards the way of treating subjects and the use of colour and light, and was certainly the most important personage of the “realist” trend of seventeenth century painting.
Caravaggio (Michelangelo Merisi da), 1573-1610 The Deposition, ca. 1600-1604 300 cm x 203 cm; Oil on canvas Room XII; Inv. 40386
pinacoteca: sala xii
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ii. sistene chapel
Michelangelo (Michelangelo Buonattotti), 1745-1564 The Ceiling of the Sistine Chapel, 1508-1512 40.9 m x 1.34 m; Fresco Sistine Chapel
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t h e vat i c a n : a l l t h e pa i n t i n g s
sistene chapel
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Michelangelo (Michelangelo Buonattotti) The Creation of Eve
The Creation of Adam is a section of Michelangelo’s fresco Sistine Chapel ceiling painted circa 1512. It is traditionally thought to illustrate the Biblical creation narrative from the Book of Genesis in which God breathes life into Adam, the first man. Chronologically the fourth in the series of panels depicting episodes from Genesis on the Sistine ceiling, it was among the last to be completed. It is the most well-known of the Sistine Chapel fresco panels, and its fame as a piece of art is rivaled only by the Mona Lisa by Leonardo da Vinci. The image of the near-touching hands of God and Adam has become one of the single most iconic images of humanity and has been reproduced in countless imitations and parodies. Along with Leonardo da Vinci’s The Last Supper, The Creation of Adam and the other Sistine Chapel panels are the most replicated religious paintings of all time. God is depicted as an elderly white-bearded man wrapped in a swirling cloak while Adam, on the lower left, is completely nude. God’s right arm is outstretched to impart the spark of life from his own finger into that of Adam, whose left arm is extended in a pose mirroring God’s, a reminder that man is created in the image and likeness of God. Another point is that Adam’s finger and God’s finger are not touching. It gives the impression that God, the giver of life, is reaching out to Adam and Adam is receiving.
Michelangelo (Michelangelo Buonattotti), 1745-1564 The Creation of Eve, 1508-1512 Fresco Sistine Chapel
Michelangelo (Michelangelo Buonattotti) The Creation of Adam
The Creation of Adam is a section of Michelangelo’s fresco Sistine Chapel ceiling painted circa 1512. It is traditionally thought to illustrate the Biblical creation narrative from the Book of Genesis in which God breathes life into Adam, the first man. Chronologically the fourth in the series of panels depicting episodes from Genesis on the Sistine ceiling, it was among the last to be completed. It is the most well-known of the Sistine Chapel fresco panels, and its fame as a piece of art is rivaled only by the Mona Lisa by Leonardo da Vinci. The image of the near-touching hands of God and Adam has become one of the single most iconic images of humanity and has been reproduced in countless imitations and parodies. Along with Leonardo da Vinci’s The Last Supper, The Creation of Adam and the other Sistine Chapel panels are the most replicated religious paintings of all time. God is depicted as an elderly white-bearded man wrapped in a swirling cloak while Adam, on the lower left, is completely nude. God’s right arm is outstretched to impart the spark of life from his own finger into that of Adam, whose left arm is extended in a pose mirroring God’s, a reminder that man is created in the image and likeness of God. Another point is that Adam’s finger and God’s finger are not touching. It gives the impression that God, the giver of life, is reaching out to Adam and Adam is receiving.
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t h e vat i c a n : a l l t h e pa i n t i n g s
Michelangelo (Michelangelo Buonattotti), 1745-1564 The Creation of Adam, 1508-1512 Fresco Sistine Chapel
sistene chapel
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Michelangelo (Michelangelo Buonattotti), 1745-1564 The Deluge Fresco Sistine Chapel Michelangelo (Michelangelo Buonattotti), 1745-1564 Noah’s Sacrifice Fresco Sistine Chapel Michelangelo (Michelangelo Buonattotti), 1745-1564 Seven Prophets Joel Fresco Sistine Chapel Michelangelo (Michelangelo Buonattotti), 1745-1564 The Expulsion from Eden Fresco Sistine Chapel
Michelangelo (Michelangelo Buonattotti)
Michelangelo (Michelangelo Buonattotti)
The Delphic Sibyl was a legendary figure who made prophecies in the sacred precinct of Apollo at Delphi, on the slopes of Mount Parnassus. According to a late source, her mother was Lamia, daughter of Poseidon. The Delphic Sibyl was not involved in the operation of the Delphic Oracle and should be considered distinct from the Pythia, the priestess of Apollo. There were several prophetic figures called Sibyls in the Graeco-Roman world. The most famous Sibyl was located at Cumae. There are a number of legends about the Delphic Sibyl, though they are not necessarily all consistent. One claims is that her last prophecy was said to be the birth of Jesus Christ. Pausanias claimed (10.14.1) that the Sibyl was “born between man and goddess, daughter of sea monsters and an immortal nymph”. Others said she was the sister or daughter of Apollo. The Sibyl came from the Troad to Delphi before the Trojan War, “in wrath with her brother Apollo”, lingered for a time at Samos, visited Claros and Delos, and died in the Troad, after surviving nine generations of men. After her death, it was said that she became a wandering voice that still brought to the ears of men tidings of the future wrapped in dark riddles.
The sibyl is portrayed in the instant when with a rotary movement of her body she lifts or puts down a book behind her. This gesture, together with the fact that she is the Prophetess closest to the altar, has been interpreted by some critics as the act of putting down the book of prophecies with the approach of the coming of the Messiah. The sibyl is portrayed in the instant when with a rotary movement of her body she lifts or puts down a book behind her. This gesture, together with the fact that she is the Prophetess closest to the altar, has been interpreted by some critics as the act of putting down the book of prophecies with the approach of the coming of the Messiah. The sibyl is portrayed in the instant when with a rotary movement of her body she lifts or puts down a book behind her. This gesture, together with the fact that she is the Prophetess closest to the altar, has been interpreted by some critics as the act of putting down the book of prophecies with the approach of the coming of the Messiah.
The Delphic Sibyl
Libyan Sibyl
Michelangelo (Michelangelo Buonattotti) Michelangelo (Michelangelo Buonattotti)
Libyan Sibyl
The Delphic Sibyl
Fresco
Fresco
Sistine Chapel
Sistine Chapel
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t h e vat i c a n : a l l t h e pa i n t i n g s
sistene chapel
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Pietro Perugino
Delivering the Keys of the Kingdom to Saint Peter The scene, part of the series of the Stories of Jesus on the chapel’s northern wall, is a reference to Matthew 16[1] in which the “keys of the kingdom of heaven” are given to St.Peter.[2] These keys represent the power to forgive and to share the word of God thereby giving them the power to allow others into heaven. The main figures are organized in a frieze in two tightly compressed rows close to the surface of the picture and well below the horizon.[3] The principal group, showing Christ handing the silver and gold keys to the kneeling St. Peter, is surrounded by the other Apostles, including Judas (fifth figure to the left of Christ), all with halos, together with portraits of contemporaries, including one said to be a self-portrait (fifth from the right edge). The flat, open square is divided by coloured stones into large foreshortened rectangles, although they are not used in defining the spatial organization. Nor is the relationship between the figures and the felicitous invention of the porticoed Temple of Solomon that dominates the picture effectively resolved. The triumphal arches at the extremities appear as superfluous antiquarian references, suitable for a Roman audience. Scattered in the middle distance are two secondary scenes from the life of Christ, including the Tribute Money on the left and the Stoning of Christ on the right. Pietro Perugino, 1448-1523 Delivering the Keys of the Kingdom to Saint Peter, 1481-1483 330 cm × 550 cm; Fresco Sistene Chapel
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sistene chapel
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iii. st peter’s basilica
Michelangelo (Michelangelo Buonattotti) Pietà
At 21 years of age, Michelangelo made his first trip to Rome. Eager to study the great statues of antiquity and to secure important commissions, the young master from Florence was soon engaged on a work that would seal his destiny as the greatest living sculpture of his time and perhaps, all time! Michelangelo’s arrival into the Eternal City was fortunate because it coincided with an exhibition of newly unearthed sculptures and ruins of antiquity. These new found classical sculptures, nude and Herculean in proportion, celebrated the ideals of moral virtue, physical beauty, and truth. The discovery of these pieces represented a crucial bridge from the Gothic works of the middle Ages to the inspired sculpture and painting of the early Renaissance. A statue was commissioned for the tomb in St. Peters of the French cardinal Jean de Billheres, who was a representative in Rome. According to the formal agreement, the Pieta` was to be “the most beautiful work of marble in Rome, one that no living artist could better.” Michelangelo was neither daunted nor intimated by such a request and upon its completion the world declared that Michelangelo’s Pieta ‘surpassed not only the sculptures of his contemporaries but even those of the ancient Greeks and Romans themselves; the standards by which all art was judged.’ Michelangelo (Michelangelo Buonattotti), 1745-1564 Pietà, 1498–1499 174 cm x 195 cm; Marble St. Peter’s Basilica
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st peter’s basilica and st peter’s piazza
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