Raphael's Rooms
Hall of Constantine
Battle of Pons Milvius
Vatican City
Rome Italy
2016


Raphael's Rooms
The four rooms known as the Stanze of Raphael formed part of the apartment situated on the second floor of the Pontifical Palace that was chosen by Julius II della Rovere (pontiff from 1503 to 1513) as his own residence and used also by his successors. The pictorial decoration was executed by Raphael and his school between 1508 and 1524.


Hall of Constantine
The Hall, that was designed to be used for receptions and official ceremonies, was decorated by the school of Raphael on the basis of drawings by the artist, who died prematurely before completion of the work (1520). It takes its name from Constantine (306-337 A.D.), the first Christian emperor to officially recognize the Christian faith, granting freedom of worship. On the walls are painted four episodes of his life which testify to the defeat of paganism and the triumph of the Christian religion: the Vision of the Cross, the Battle of the Pons Milvius, the Baptism of Constantine and the Donation of Rome. The decoration of the Hall is completed by figures of great Popes flanked by allegorical figures of Virtue. The original wooden roof which Leo X (pontiff from 1513 to 1521) had built was replaced under Gregory XIII (pontiff from 1572 to 1585) by the modern ceiling, the decoration of which was entrusted by order of the Pope to Tommaso Laureti who portrayed the Triumph of the Christian religion in the central panel. The work was completed at the end of 1585 under Pope Sixtus V (pontiff from 1585 to 1590).

Recently conducted restoration work on the walls of the Hall has confirmed Raphael's authorship of the figures of Comitas and Iustitia, painted in oil on the wall using an experimental technique, to the right of the Vision and the Battle respectively.


Battle of the Pons Milvius
The Battle of the Pons Milvius pitted Constantine against his rival Maxentius, marking the latter's defeat (shown on the right as he is about to drown in the Tiber) and the victory of Christianity over the pagan world. The scene is set with topographical precision to the north of Rome, with the inclusion of Monte Mario and the construction site of Villa Madama (built by Raphael in those same years) on the left, and the reliefs of Saxa Rubra in the background. The initial design of this composition, like that of the Vision that precedes it, is certainly the work of Raphael, but the painting was materially executed by his pupil Giulio Romano, who completed it after the former’s death.