Moving from room to room and listening to the stories of the artists who contributed to the works held in Vatican’s Halls was truly a feast for the eyes. Every inch was covered in some form of art including carved wood, vaulted ceilings, paintings, sculpture, and other mediums.
I loved how detailed the marble works are!
One of my favorite rooms was the Hall of Maps. It was very crowded in this narrow hall, so my photos didn’t turn out, but these couple give a small taste of the 40 panels done by commissioned artist Ignazio Danti from 1580-1583. Yes, you read that right. Each one depicts a region of Italy at the time and boasts a surprising 80% accuracy- not bad for 1580!
My other favorite room was the Room of Segnatura. It features 4 HUGE paintings by Raphael in the most exquisite colors. I LOVE how alive the scenes are and made me imagine myself sitting in one of the scenes as a participant. The depth and perspective were just so perfect!
Each of the panels represents the 3 Greatest Pillars of Human Existence: Truth, (separated into Philosophical Truth and Spiritual Truth in 2 paintings) Good, and Beauty. Our guide explained each one and how it represents one of pillars. Then she told us that this was Ground Zero, the very starting point, of a turn into what is known as the High Renaissance. These were painted from 1508-1511. This was the first painting commission that Raphael did for the Vatican and where the long-standing and envious rivalry between Michelangelo and Raphael arose. Apparently, jealousy of one another ran deep and Michelangelo died hating Raphael and his successes.
^^ See the guy right there? Apparently, many scholars believe this is a satirical depiction of Michelangelo and Michelangelo knew it was mockery, fueling the animosity between the two.
Another of my absolute favorite rooms was the Hall of Tapestries. I had no idea tapestries could be so intricate and realistic! This is a huge hall with enormous woven treasures over 15 feet tall and 20 feet wide! If I had had to choose 2 rooms to spend my time in at the Vatican, it would have been this one and the Sistine Chapel.
Close ups of the woolen craft…
Of course, there is all myriad of statuary scattered throughout the museum as well as rooms and rooms filled with Catholic objects of worship throughout history, tools of exploration and navigation, gifts to the Popes, furniture and just…. Stuff. In the next post, I’ll round out our Vatican visit with the remaining batch in no particular order.