Hall of Constantine

On 12 April 1520, the painter Sebastiano del Piombo wrote to his friend Michelangelo: "That poor Raphael is dead." The early death of the master from Urbino left a series of commissions unfinished, the most demanding of which was the decoration of a large hall in the Vatican Palaces, the fourth and last of the Vatican Rooms on which Raphael had been working since 1508, first for Pope Julius II and then for Pope Leo X.

Sebastiano, who was known to be in competition with Raphael, had tried to obtain this commission for himself, even resorting to Michelangelo's intervention with the high prelates of Rome. However, the papal court was unyielding: the heirs of Raphael's workshop had already shown some oil paintings that were considered to be of indescribable beauty and, above all, they had the master's drawings to be used in the Room of Constantine.

Sebastiano was therefore offered another commission. The room, the largest of the Vatican Rooms, was used as a banquet hall and for official audiences. Its name is modern and derives from the Roman emperor Constantine, the figure to whom the entire cycle of frescoes is dedicated. According to tradition, after converting and becoming a defender of the Christian faith, Constantine submitted to papal authority, recognising its superiority over imperial authority as a direct descendant of God.

This was a subject that, by extolling the superiority of the power of the Church of Rome over the principal temporal power, was particularly suited to the decoration of a hall intended to welcome the sovereigns of all Europe.

The four frescoes, executed mainly by Giulio Romano and assistants from Raphael's workshop, depict the Vision of Constantine and the Baptism, the Donation of Constantine, and the Battle of Constantine at the Milvian Bridge, the largest scene and the first to be completed.

On the walls are painted four episodes from his life which testify to the defeat of paganism and the triumph of the Christian religion: the Vision of the Cross, the Battle of 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, built by Leo X (pontiff from 1513 to 1521), was replaced under Gregory XIII (pontiff from 1572 to 1585) by the modern ceiling, whose decoration was entrusted by the Pope to Tommaso Laureti, who painted the central panel depicting the Triumph of Christianity over Paganism. The work was completed in late 1585 under Pope Sixtus V (pontiff from 1585 to 1590).

Recent 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.

The fresco commemorates Constantine's victory in the Battle of Milvian Bridge in 312, thanks to which, after internal struggles for succession to power, he was acclaimed emperor.

The composition, organised according to broken rhythms, has no precise point of reference. Even the heroic figure of Constantine is difficult to distinguish among the multitude of characters. On the back of a white horse with golden harness, wearing a crown and with a proud face, he embodies the model of Roman authority as handed down by classical statuary, which inspired his pose.

Following his gaze, it is possible to make out his rival Maxentius on the right, emblematically swept away by the waters of the Tiber.

The presence of angels watching over the battle is attributed to Constantine's supposed conversion to Christianity.

According to legend, before the Battle of Milvian Bridge, he had a premonitory dream: Christ appeared to him and announced victory if he fought under the sign of the cross.

The Roman insignia visible behind Constantine are in fact surmounted by the cross.

The Battle of Constantine is painted as if it were a false tapestry hanging on the walls. The border, which appears to be woven with precious threads, repeats the coat of arms of the Medici family, to which Pope Leo X, who commissioned the frescoes, belonged.

The fiction of virtual spaces and the intellectual play of references between reality and appearance were very dear to the Mannerist style, which was spreading in Italy and Europe, thanks in part to Giulio Romano.

The Battle of Constantine is painted as if it were a fake tapestry hanging on the wall.

The Vision of the Cross recounts the prophetic dream Constantine had before his battle with Maxentius, in which he was promised that his army would defeat its enemies if they carried the cross instead of the imperial eagle on their standards.

At the climax of the vision, a heavenly apparition appears with the Christian symbol of salvation and the words: "IN HOC SIGNO VINCES - IN THIS SIGN YOU WILL WIN" (in Greek: "Ἐν τούτῳ νίκα"); below, the soldiers listen attentively to an order from their emperor to raise their banners ("Adlocutio").

It is interesting to note that there is a picture of Rome in the background on the right, with some reconstructed ancient monuments.

The depiction of the Baptism of Constantine shows the emperor kneeling to receive the sacrament from Pope Sylvester - who was Bishop of Rome between 314 and 355 - in a building represented by the Constantinian Baptistery of the Lateran.

The scene was painted by a person resembling Clement VII, pope from 1523 to 1534, during whose pontificate work on this chamber, which had been suspended for a while during the pontificate of Hadrian VI (1521-1523), was resumed until only two floors remained to complete the cycle - this one and a later one.

These frescoes are generally attributed to Giovan Francesco Penni for the figures, while Giulio Romano has some portraits as well as architectural parts.

Constantine the Great is shown kneeling before Pope Sylvester, who offers him a golden statuette that appears to represent the city of Rome.

This legendary event later became the legal basis of the Church State, and with it the temporal power of an empire for popes. In the painting, Sylvester I has taken on the mature features of Clement VII from the late years of his 1523-34 papacy, when he was portrayed in the still-existing St Peter's Basilica.

The setting is in a building designed to look like the ancient Basilica of St Peter. It has a long early Christian nave shown in perspective, an apse decorated with mosaics, and the tomb of the Apostle Peter surrounded by twisted columns near the altar at the back. In the background, past a series of figures designed to lead the eye into the depth of the scene, is the moment of donation.

The Pope, seated on his throne, receives from the Emperor a golden statue of Rome as a token of his sovereignty over the city. Vasari listed many portraits among these figures.

The wooden ceiling commissioned by Leo X, pope from 1513 to 1521, was replaced by a new frescoed ceiling during the pontificate of Gregory XIII.

The project was entrusted to the Sicilian artist Tommaso Laureti, who began work in 1582 and completed it in 1585, during the pontificate of Sixtus V, who was pope from 1585 to 1590.

The corners of the ceiling illustrate the achievements of Gregory XIII, while the frieze above shows four significant episodes from the life of Constantine, accompanied by the heraldic symbols of Sixtus V.

In the central panel, Laureti depicted the triumph of Christianity over paganism, symbolising the eradication of pagan idols and their replacement with the image of Christ, a decree issued by Constantine throughout the Empire.

Surrounding the central panel, the artist depicted eight regions of Italy, two in each of the four pendentives, together with representations of three continents: Europe, Asia and Africa.