Raphael at the Vatican – Vernet


This painting, by the nineteenth-century artist Vernet, depicts the time when Raphael, Michelangelo, and Bramante were working at the Vatican during the sixteenth-century papacy of Julius II. Raphael stands speaking with a group of men from his workshop, while the peasant mother and her child, whom the artist has requested to model for him, sit on a stone slab which Michelangelo has excavated for the Pope's tomb. Raphael looks at Michelangelo, who walks off while looking over his shoulder at Raphael, carrying the key to the Sistine Chapel. Pope Julius, shaded by a canopy held by one of his guards, watches Raphael and Michelangelo. Bramante tries to get the the attention of Julius, showing the Pope his plans for St. Peter's Basilica.


Collections: New, Spirituality