From Raphael’s room we journey into that of Leonardo da Vinci, which focuses on an unfinished painting of Saint Jerome in which the viewer can see Leonardo’s obsession with anatomy and the human form. We then ventured into the realm of the Baroque – studying the intensely graphic paintings of Caravaggio and Guido Reni, where we received an introduction to the technique of chiaroscuro- the play between light and dark so widely explored in Baroque painting. With a quick view of the still lives in the adjacent room, we quit the painting gallery to go out into the beautiful sunlight of the courtyard where Constantine’s giant bronze pinecone commands the scene. From here we entered the ancient sculpture courtyard where we had the privilege of seeing two of the most influential and magnificent sculptures that still survive from antiquity – the Apollo Belvedere and the Laocoön.
There are four rooms included in the Stanze commissioned by Julius II so that he would not have to endure the unpleasantness of living in the former Borgia apartments. The most renowned of these rooms is the Stanza della Signatura as it is home to the celebrated School of Athens - with many of Raphael's honorable contemporaries depicted as ancient thinkers - such as Leonardo da Vinci as Plato (the left central figure).
After viewing these masterpieces of Raphael, we swept through the Hall of Maps and the Modern Art wing to arrive at the culmination of our visit – the Sistine Chapel. How can I hope to describe the Sistine Chapel? It is indeed an overload on the senses – incredible frescoes by Botticelli and Perugino cover the side walls and Michelangelo’s Last Judgment with its deeply blue background and countless almost-nude figures adorns the altar – and then of course there is the ceiling which speaks for itself.
Sistine Chapel with Last Judgement center
(photo taken from http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-541593/Painting-ceiling-weekend-Spare-thought-man-created-Sistine-Chapel.html - as being good little art historians we didn't take any photos inside the chapel)
One of the most interesting things we learned about the chapel was that a heavy cleaning and restoration was just completed less than five years ago that completely changed the hues of the frescoes that had become extremely dark and dirty over the years. For many art historians the cleaning of the frescoes required the interpretation of Michelangelo’s Sistine frescoes to be entirely altered – that in fact they were not dark and tumultuous but bright and vibrant. This day at the Vatican museums was incredible and many of us felt that we could spend days here and still not see everything that the galleries have to offer.
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