Vatican Museums

Following the three volumes dedicated to the Sistine Chapel, The Last Judgement, The Ceiling and The Painters of the Fifteenth Century in the Sistine Chapel, the Face to Face with Masterpieces series is enriched with a new title dedicated to the School of Athens, Raphael’s first major fresco inside the celebrated Vatican Rooms that bear his name.

An opening historical-artistic essay outlines the history of Julius II’s apartment and the dense iconographic programme commissioned by the Master of Urbino, with an interesting in-depth look at the preparatory cartoon, which is currently held at the Biblioteca Ambrosiana in Milan.
A second text is dedicated to the Urbino master’s painting technique and the revolution in fresco execution that Raphael managed to implement in the few years he worked in the papal apartments before his premature death.
This is followed by an extensive section of photographic plates presenting detailed close-ups and unusual, tight viewpoints of the many figures that animate the painting and the grandiose architectural structures framing the scene. The volume concludes with a brief bibliography compiling the essential titles on the figure and works of Sanzio.