Musei Vaticani_ Pinacoteca Vaticana, The Masterpieces

Musei Vaticani, Pinacoteca Vaticana,

The Masterpieces

RAFFAELLO SanzioThe Transfiguration1518-20Oil on wood, 405 x 278 cmPinacoteca, Vatican

RAFFAELLO SanzioThe Transfiguration (detail)1518-20Oil on woodPinacoteca, Vatican

The transfigured Christ floats in an aura of light and clouds above the hill. He is shown against a bright light that strongly emphasizes the outline of His figure. Its brightness creates a striking effect when seen from a distance. The outstretched arms recall the shape of the Cross on which He died, and yet the figure is not stiff but elegant in appearance.




Distressed by the sight of the child twisting in convulsions, the Apostle turns away with a gesture of heartfelt compassion. His hand and foot seem to protrude from the front edge of the picture, drawing the onlooker into the scene as a witness to the event



This boy is the embodiment of the aesthetic paradox that the ugly can be portrayed in a beautiful way. The humanist Giovio admired the figure for the way in which the physical movement and the fixed stare show the exact physical and mental state of the sick child.


ANGELICO, FraThe Story of St Nicholas, Perugia Triptych 1447-48Tempera and gold on panel, 34 x 60 cmPinacoteca, Vatican

ANGELICO, FraStory of St Nicholas: Birth of St Nicholas, Perugia Triptych (detail)1447-48Tempera and gold on panelPinacoteca, Vatican

Detail of the first predella painting on the Perugia Triptych. The predella depicts the story of St Nicholas.

ANGELICO, FraThe Story of St Nicholas: Giving Dowry to Three Poor Girls, Perugia Triptych 1447-48Tempera and gold on panelPinacoteca, Vatican

Detail of the first predella painting on the Perugia Triptych. The predella depicts the story of St Nicholas.

ANGELICO, FraThe Story of St Nicholas: St Nicholas saves the ship, Perugia Triptych 1447-48Tempera and gold on panel, 34 x 60 cmPinacoteca, Vatican

ANGELICO, FraThe Story of St Nicholas: St Nicholas saves the ship, Perugia Triptych (detail)1447-48Tempera and gold on panel, 34 x 60 cmPinacoteca, Vatican

The second predella painting shows the meeting of St Nicholas with the messanger of the Emperor (on the left) and the miraculous saving of a ship (on the right).

ANGELICO, FraThe Story of St Nicholas: St Nicholas saves the ship, Perugia Triptych (detail)1447-48Tempera and gold on panel, 34 x 60 cmPinacoteca, Vatican

The second predella painting shows the meeting of St Nicholas with the messanger of the Emperor (on the left) and the miraculous saving of a ship (on the right).

ANGELICO, FraThe Story of St Nicholas: St Nicholas saves the ship, Perugia Triptych (detail)1447-48Tempera and gold on panelPinacoteca, Vatican

Detail of the second predella paintings on the Perugia Triptych, depicting the filling grain sacks at Bari, where a ship waits to export it. The predella depicts the story of St Nicholas.

GIOTTO di BondoneThe Stefaneschi Triptych (recto)c. 1330Tempera on panel, 220 x 245 cmPinacoteca, Vatican

GIOTTO di BondoneThe Stefaneschi Triptych (verso)c. 1330Tempera on panel, 220 x 245 cmPinacoteca, Vatican

GIOTTO di BondoneThe Stefaneschi Triptych: Martyrdom of Peterc. 1330Tempera on panelPinacoteca, Vatican

GIOTTO di BondoneThe Stefaneschi Triptych: Martyrdom of Peterc. 1330Tempera on panelPinacoteca, Vatican

The picture shows the left panel on the side showing Christ.Peter has been nailed to the upside-down cross between a pyramid and the so-called Meta Romuli, the symbol of Rome and the Vatican. Soldiers and mourners throng towards the cross, while the saints soul is already departing. Exact observation - the saint s hair hangs downward; sensitivity - a woman tenderly embraces the cross; and the most delicate brushwork — the green cloak of the figure with her back to us gleams sumptuously - characterize this composition.

GIOTTO di BondoneThe Stefaneschi Triptych: Christ Enthronedc. 1330Tempera on panelPinacoteca, Vatican

The picture shows the middle panel on the side showing Christ.Surrounded by a heavenly host, the enormous Christ is enthroned in solemn majesty on a richly decorated Gothic throne. As if given a place among the circle of angels, the donor Cardinal Stefaneschi kneels before the throne on the marble floor, which is laid out in perspective. He is clothed in a simple robe and has reverently laid aside his cardinal's hat. Unlike the angels, the cardinal bends forward as if he wanted to kiss the feet of the Lord.



GIOTTO di BondoneThe Stefaneschi Triptych: Martyrdom of St Paulc. 1330Tempera on panelPinacoteca, Vatican



The picture shows the right panel on the side showing Christ. The scene depicts the Martyrdom of St Paul.Against the golden background an amazingly deep landscape stretches out, representing the place where the apostle Paul was beheaded: on the hill on the right we can recognize the lighthouse of Ostia. Opposite this tower, a maiden is thrown the cloth used to catch the saint's blood by his spirit. In the foreground, we see the executioner in the centre of the picture, separating the group of mourners around the beheaded man on one side, and the retreating soldiers on the other.

GIOTTO di BondoneThe Stefaneschi Triptych: St Peter Enthronedc. 1330Tempera on panelPinacoteca, Vatican

The picture shows the middle panel on the side showing St Peter.Peter sits, surrounded by angels and saints, on a simply constructed throne inlaid with Cosmati work. His right hand is raised in blessing, and in the other he holds the keys of his office. Before him, kneeling on the luxurious marble floor, laid out in perspective, are the hermit-saint Peter of Morrone to his right, and the donor Cardinal Stefaneschi, offering him the altar, to his left.

GIOTTO di BondoneThe Stefaneschi Triptych: St Peter Enthronedc. 1330Tempera on panelPinacoteca, Vatican

GIOTTO di BondoneThe Stefaneschi Triptych: St Peter Enthroned (detail)c. 1330Tempera on panelPinacoteca, Vatican

The model of the altar, which the cardinal hands to St Peter, is rich in detail and has been painted with precision and extreme delicacy. It allows us to distinguish the original rich Gothic framework. The same representation appears for a second time as a picture within the picture.

RAFFAELLO SanzioThe Crowning of the Virgin, Oddi Altarpiece1502-03Oil on canvas, transferred from panel, 267 x 163 cmPinacoteca, Vatican

RAFFAELLO SanzioThe Crowning of the Virgin, Oddi Altarpiece (detail)1502-03Oil on canvas, transferred from panelPinacoteca, Vatican


The altarpiece is divided horizontally into heavenly and earthly spheres. The upper section shows Christ offering a crown to his mother, who is placed above her empty sarcophagus. Confronting her disappearance and replacement by miraculous flowers, the startled apostles are grouped around the massive stone coffin in the panel's lower area.





RAFFAELLO SanzioThe Annunciation, Oddi altar, predella1502-03Oil on canvas, 27 x 50 cmPinacoteca, Vatican

RAFFAELLO SanzioThe Annunciation, Oddi altar, predella (detail)1502-03Oil on canvas, 27 x 50 cmPinacoteca, Vatican

RAFFAELLO SanzioThe Annunciation, Oddi altar, predella (detail)1502-03Oil on canvas, 27 x 50 cmPinacoteca, Vatican

RAFFAELLO SanzioThe Adoration of the Magi, Oddi altar, predella1502-03Oil on canvas, 27 x 150 cmPinacoteca, Vatican

RAFFAELLO SanzioThe Adoration of the Magi, Oddi altar, predella (detail)1502-03Oil on canvas, 27 x 150 cmPinacoteca, Vatican

RAFFAELLO SanzioThe Adoration of the Magi, Oddi altar, predella1502-03Oil on canvas, 27 x 150 cmPinacoteca, Vatican

RAFFAELLO SanzioThe Adoration of the Magi, Oddi altar, predella (detail)1502-03Oil on canvas, 27 x 150 cmPinacoteca, Vatican

RAFFAELLO SanzioThe Madonna of Foligno1511-12Oil on canvas, 320 x 194 cmPinacoteca, Vatican

RAFFAELLO SanzioThe Madonna of Foligno (detail)1511-12Oil on canvas, 320 x 194 cmPinacoteca, Vatican



RAFFAELLO SanzioThe Madonna of Foligno (detail)1511-12Oil on canvas, width of detail: 33 cmPinacoteca, Vatican

The papal secretary Sigismondo de'Conti donated this ex voto altarpiece in 1511. A meteorite had fallen on Conti's house, a catastrophe Conti himself survived. Raphael portrays this event in the background.

CARAVAGGIOThe Entombment of Christ 1602-03Oil on canvas, 300 x 203 cmPinacoteca, Vatican

CARAVAGGIOThe Entombment of Christ (detail)1602-03Oil on canvas, width of detail 118 cmPinacoteca, Vatican


The stone slab makes its appearance in the picture with terrifying power. According to one's attitude, one will detect in this paiting either irreverence or profound religious bewilderment in the face of the death of Christ, because it presents the meaning of the sacred event - the unique occasion - which lies in the heart of Church ritual, in a tangible visual form.



Maria de Cleófas


Virgin Mary and Maria Madalena

Musei Vaticani_ Pinacoteca Vaticana, The Masterpieces

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CARAVAGGIOThe Entombment of Christ

Of all Caravaggio's paintings, The Entombment is probably the most monumental. A strictly symmetrical group is built up from the slab of stone that juts diagonally out of the background.

The painting is from the altar of the Chiesa Nuova in Rome, which is dedicated to the Pietà. The embalming of the corpse and the entombment are actually secondary to the Mourning of Mary which is the focal point of the lamentation.

Nothing distinguished Caravaggio's history paintings more strongly from the art of the Renaissance than his refusal to portray the human individual as sublime, beautiful and heroic. His figures are bowed, bent, cowering, reclining or stooped. The self confident and the statuesque have been replaced by humility and subjection.

RAFFAELLO SanzioThe Transfiguration

Cardinal Giulio de' Medici commissioned the Transfiguration in 1517 to Raphael for the French Cathedral of Narbonne. Bad health prevented Raphael from finishing it. The painting, however, remained in Rome in San Pietro in Montorio after 1523. Taken to Paris 1797, it was brought back in its present location in 1815.

The composition of the Transfiguration is divided into two distinct parts: the Miracle of the Possessed Boy on a lower level; and the Transfiguration of Christ on Mount Tabor, in the background. The transfigured Christ floats in an aura of light and clouds above the hill, accompanied by Moses and Elijah. Below, on the ground, are his disciples. Some are dazzled by

the light of glory, others are in prayer. The gestures of the crowd beholding at the miracle link the two parts together: the raised hands of the crowd converge toward the figure of Christ. In this very grand composition Raphael has summed up all the elements present in the best of contemporary painting, including references to classical antiquity, Leonardo da

Vinci (without doubt based on his recall of impressions garnered during his stay in Florence) and - not without a certain narcissism - himself. The works set the stage (just as surely as Michelangelo's Doni Tondo) for Mannerism.

The numerous drawings (both by Raphael and pupils) for the characters in the painting, together with the number of variants of the first draft which were revealed by restoration work in 1977, show just exactly how carefully meditated a composition it is. The restoration also dispelled any doubts as to the authenticity of the attribution to Raphael; the retouching

and corrections are proof that the painting (although unfinished) is actually entirely in his hand.

The Transfiguration is the last bequest of an artist whose brief life was rich in inspiration, where doubt or tension had no place. Raphael's life was spent in thoughts of great harmony and balance. This is one of the reasons why Raphael appears as the best interpreter of the art of his time and has been admired and studied in every century.

On 6 April 1520, precisely 37 years after he was born, Raphael died in Rome, the city that he had helped make the most important centre of art and culture that had ever existed.

ANGELICO, FraPerugia Triptych

he large altarpiece, called Perugia Triptych and executed for the Cappella di San Niccolò of the church San Domenico at Perugia, contained three main panels, a predella with three pictures, and two decorated side pilasters. It was dismembered in later centeries. The majority of the parts are in the Galleria Nazionale dell'Umbria at Perugia, while

two of the predella paintings are in the Vatican.The central part of the triptych represents the Madonna with the Child and Angels, while on the side parts four saints are shown. The predella depicts the story of St

Nicholas.The first predella painting (this picture) shows the birth of St Nicholas (on the left), The Vocation of St Nicholas (in the center) and the Giving Dowry to Three Poor Girls (on

the right).This scene refers to the most popular legend concerning this fourth-century churchman. He reputedly tossed bags of gold through the open window of a house, providing

the three women who lived within with dowries and thus saving them from turning to prostitution. The event is shown, with two other scenes from the saint's life, in one of the predella panels from the altarpiece.

GIOTTO di BondoneThe Stefaneschi Triptych (recto)

The triptych consists of three panels (Crucifixion of St Peter, Christ Enthroned, Beheading of St Paul) and a predella showing the Virgin on a throne holding the Christ Child and flanked by the Apostles. The back of the altarpiece is also painted, St James and St Paul, St Peter Enthroned, St Andrew and St John the Evangelist are represented on the

three panels.The golden background and the rich coloring of the very delicate painting allow the side showing Christ to shine with particular splendor. Christ, delivering benediction, is

enthroned in the center and surrounded by a host of angels. The representation of Virgin Mary and Child on the predella emphasizes the central axis of the altarpiece. Apostles surround Mary.

GIOTTO di Bondone

The Stefaneschi Triptych (verso)

This side of the triptych, with Peter, the prince of the Church, enthroned at its center, is constructed as if it were the cross-section of a church with a five-aisled nave: below the arcades of the side aisles the apostles James and Paul are standing on the left, with Andrew and John on the right.

RAFFAELLO SanzioOddi Altarpiece

The Oddi Altarpiece is an altarpiece of the Coronation of the Virgin painted in 1502-1504 by the Italian Renaissance master Raphael for the altar of the Oddi family chapel in the church of San Francesco al Prato in Perugia, Italy, now in the Vatican Pinacoteca.

The crowning of the VirginThe actions of the painting occur in two related scenes, one in heaven and the other terrestrial. Above the coronation shows the Virgin being crowned by Jesus, while angels are playing music; while below the section depicts the apostles gathering around the empty tomb of Mary, whose body was raised to heaven without corruption. St Thomas holds in

his hands the girdle Mary dropped down to him as a testament to her assumption. The saints raise their eyes to the heavenly spectacle.

The predellaThe predella is composed of three paintings:

Annunciation Adoration of the Magi

Presentation at the Temple

RAFFAELLO SanzioThe Madonna of Foligno

The painting was executed for Sigismondo de' Conti in 1511-12. It represents the Madonna in Glory but it is usually called the Madonna of Foligno.Raphael's pictorial research had been enriched by his solutions regarding the use of light in the Expulsion of Heliodorus and the Liberation of St Peter. These pictorial devices

reappear in the Madonna of Foligno, now in the Vatican Museum. The Madonna and Child, borne by a cloud of angels and framed by an orange disk, dominate the group of saints below them, among whom is the donor. This group includes - from left to right - St John the Baptist, St Francis, Sigismondo de' Conti and St Jerome. A small angel at the centre

of the composition holds a 'small plaque which was originally intended to carry the dedicatory inscription.

The painting was commissioned to commemorate a miracle in which the donor's house in Foligno was struck by lightning or - according to another version - was struck by a projectile during the siege of Foligno, although it was not damaged. The stormy atmosphere of the landscape background and the flash of lightning (or explosion) which strikes

the Chigi Palace (visible at left) illustrate the legend. The strong characterization of the figures, the volumetric fullness of the putti and the refined chiaroscuro distinguish the panel (which was taken as loot by Napoleon's army in 1799 and returned in 1815) as a work of the mature artist.

The Vatican Museums are institutions housing the enormous collections of antiquities and works of art accumulated by the papacy since the beginning of the 15th century. As the leaders of the Christian Church

the popes were continually showered with gifts; as political rulers they were, paradoxically, chief guardians of the remains of pagan Rome until Italy was unified in 1870. The Vatican collections are now among the largest and most important in the world, housed in a complex of buildings in the papal palace

and elsewhere in the Vatican. There are several separate museums and the visitor to them is also admitted to the exhibition rooms of the Vatican Library and to various suites of Renaissance painting, of which the most important are the Sistine Chapel, decorated by Michelangelo and others, and the Stanze, decorated

by Raphael and others.

The museums had their origin with Julius II (pontificate 1503-13), who placed some of the most famous works of classical sculpture in the Cortile del Belvedere (Belvedere Court), accessible to artists,

connoisseurs. and scholars. However, it was not until 1734 that a museum proper was set up by Clement XII. Now, as then, the Vatican Museums are most famous for their classical statues, including the Apollo

Belvedere. the Belvedere Torso, and the Laocoön, but they also contain great riches in, for example, Egyptian art, jewellery, and vestments. The Pinacoteca (picture gallery) has an impressive if somewhat

haphazard collection, devoted mainly to Italian painting of the 13th century to the 17th century.

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Musei Vaticani_ Pinacoteca Vaticana, The Masterpieces