A quick scan of ANSA’s website this evening reveals some incredibly interesting art historical news having to do with the Stanza di Heliodorus, one of the rooms painted by Raphael in Pope Julius II’s private suite of apartments. The Stanza of Heliodorus, frescoed between 1511 and 1514, seems to have an exact and roughly contemporaneous twin that was discovered about four years ago in the port city of Civitavecchia, north of Rome. The Vatican room is most famous for the paintings of The Expulsion of Heliodorus, The Deliverance of Saint Peter, and The Mass at Bolsena.
Art historian and Raphael expert Nicole Dacos says that the painted room in Civitavecchia was executed by an artist working in the circle of Raphael who was named Ugo da Carpi. Unlike the walls of the Vatican, however, which are frescoed, the Civitavecchia copy was most likely done in tempera.
Who paid to have the copy made is unclear, however, Dacos suggests that the work may have been done in 1527 when Rome was sacked by the troops of the Holy Roman Emperor and the artist Ugo da Carpi followed Parmigianino. one of his colleagues, out of Rome and to the city of Bologna. (Ugo da Carpi is famous for his woodcuts depicting works by Raphael and Parmigianino).
At the time that it was painted, the room in Civitavecchia was in a tower and was probably used for military purposes. Today the room is the bedroom of a retired carbineiri, signor Tarcisio, and his wife Teresa. It was Tarcisio himself who found the paintings some years ago when he undertook a remodeling job and during his works discovered “a very big angel” on the wall.
There’s much more to the story and you’ll find it here on ANSA.
Photos from ANSA where you can also read the whole story.
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