Raffaello started to fresco the private apartment of pope Giulio II Della Rovere in the Apostolic Palaces in 1508, at just 25 years old. It begins from the Stanza della segnatura, then works in the room of Eliodoro (1511-14), then after the death of Giulio II and under the papacy of Leo X medici, he paints the room of the Borgo fire (1513-1514). In 1519 Raphael began work in the largest room, the Sala di Costantino, he managed to plan the episodes but was unable to paint them. Death surprised him on the 6th of April of 1520, at just 37 years of age. The room will be completed by Giulio Romano and his collaborators.
Let’s look at the frescoes. Then we will dwell on the work that the master was painting during his last days, the transfiguration, today it is located in the Vatican Pinacoteca, which was exhibited in the pantheon during the solemn funeral. On that occasion, the poet Pietro Bembo, his friend, gave a Latin couplet a tribute to the painter’ “Here lies Raphael, of whom nature was afraid of being defeated when he was alive and of dying at the news of his death.” A great art historian, Antonio Paolucci, director of the Vatican Museum guides us through this journey across the Raffaello’s Rooms.
