Raphael's Stanza della Segnatura : Meaning and Invention (review)

Anyone who writes a book on the meaning of the most famous works of Renaissance art and especially of the Roman works which were executed for a pope should know a lot of medieval and Renaissance theology and philosophy in order to appreciate and to explain the full content of the frescoes done by Raphael or by Michelangelo. The new book on the Stanza della Segnatura presents as its fundamental thesis a repetition of that of the article of Monsignor Künzle and affirms that the principal man who gave advice to Raphael was the papal librarian Fedro Inghirami.

The book is divided into twelve chapters. The first reaffirms the meaning and function of the Stanza as the library of Julius II. The second deals with the problem of identifying the designer of the program. The third presents the person of the papal librarian. The fourth gives a good explanation of the composition of the ceiling decoration and of the meanings of the four inscriptions on the tablets of the four personifications of the disciplines of poetry, law, philosophy, and theology. The fifth chapter describes the relation of the paintings with the geographic situation of the Stanza on the Vatican Hill and with the four directions on the terrestrial globe. The next four chapters are dedicated to the great wall paintings, the "Disputa," the "School of Athens," the "Parnassus," and "Jurisprudence." The last chapter describes for the first time the pattern of the pavement. In the conclusion the author presents her thesis of the exclusive collaboration between the painter Raphael and the poet Inghirami.

Now we have to ask ourselves, "Is this construction not a little bit simple?" There was surely not only one adviser for Raphael. He had always a considerable number of intellectual friends. On the other side, if we find a lot of correspondences in the works of Giles of Viterbo and of the Venetian Cristoforo Marcello, especially for the "School of Athens," and in the works of Petrus Galatinus for the colors of the clothes of the three virtues on the "Jurisprudence" wall, and the explanation for the golden rays in the upper part of the "Disputa" in the Vexillum fidei of Georgius Benignus, the composition of the program is not to be attributed to one of these outstanding personalities, even less to Tommaso Inghirami, but to a subordinated, still anonymous person, who brought together his knowledge using the works and ideas of the above-mentioned persons. The author gives no proof that Inghirami knew all these more important contemporary theologians and writers. In the pontifical librarian's works there are not to be found traces and quotations of the thoughts and formulations of these personalities.

The value of the book of Christiane L. Joost-Gaugier lies in her treatment of the whole humanistic culture with its many significant quotations of antique authors. The notes are a treasure where you will find many indications of thorough investigation, and other indications of the research that the author often not has done. Thus, she can write a statement that can be easily challenged, "no single work provides a blueprint for the plan of its frescoes..." (p. 153). You will find for the Stanza della Segnatura the essential program of the "School of Athens" in the Politeia of Plato, as Matthias Winner pointed out, and almost literally the same system of platonic education, on which is based the fresco of Raphael, quoted in the book of Cristoforo Marcello on the tradition of the doctrines on the soul. This book was dedicated in 1507 to Pope Julius II. Surely it was to be found in his library. The Augustinian idea of the conversio ad lucem, which stands behind the group on the left side of the "Disputa," could come only from Giles of Viterbo, if not directly from him, then from one of his pupils. The most important of them was Girolamo Seripando.

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