Raphael’s Bible

No one has, until now, made a serious effort to analyze the meaning of Raphael's Bible. Considering the tomes devoted to theories about the Sistine ceiling or even to Raphael's own Stanze in the Vatican, this default is astonishing.

This monograph attempts to identify the most significant cohesive themes of the Logge decorations and to demonstrate that the subjects discussed in the first chapter as an introduction to the enterprise—namely, the ecclesiastical concerns and deep spirituality shown in Raphael's portrait of Leo X and the propaganda arguments of contemporary literature and festivals—come together in the Logge decorations.

In the Logge Raphael's genius transforms the common language and imagery of the papal court into an extraordinary masterpiece of art.