Raphael's Stanza della Segnatura: Meaning and Invention

by Christiane L. Joost-Gaugier

Overview

Raphael's Stanza della Segnatura in the Vatican Palace has often been considered the artist's most aesthetically perfect work. Executed between 1508 and 1511, it features a painted ceiling, a pavement of inlaid marble, and four frescoed walls, all orchestrated with a cast of famous historical figures who exemplify the various disciplines of learning. Joost-Gaugier's study is the first to examine the elements of the Stanza della Segnatura as an ensemble, exploring the meaning of the frescoes and accompanying decoration in light of recent studies into the intellectual world of High Renaissance Rome.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780521809238
Publisher:	Cambridge University Press
Publication date:	05/06/2002
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	284
Product dimensions:	7.09(w) x 10.00(h) x 0.83(d)

Table of Contents

Introduction; 1. The Stanza della Segnatura and its painted program: the Library of Julius II; 2. The inventor of the program: ambiguities and uncertainties; 3. The Pope's Librarian, Tommaso Inghirami: portrait of a Humanist; 4. The ceiling: the birth of the disciplines and the triumph of their protector; 5. The geography of the Stanza della Segnatura; 6. The Disputa: a visionary theology and the exultation of Christianity; 7. The School of Athens: the great philosophical inventions; 8. The Parnassus: the universal language of Apollo; 9. The Jurisprudence: civil law, canon law, and divine law; 10. The pavement: the power of the Sacred Hebrew language; 11. Conclusion: the Humanism of the Stanza Della Segnatura; 12. Epilogue: Harmony is the most beautiful thing. Raphael's pythagoreanism.

Editorial Reviews

"This book serves to shed new light on a well-known masterpiece and will be appreciated by all lovers of Renaissance art and history." Religious Studies Review

"...a profound and impressively articulate analysis..." Renaissance Quarterly

"Christiane L. Joost-Gaugier opens her discussion... with the bold asserion that "the Stanza della Segnatura belongs as much to the history of ideas as to the history of art", an assumption she goes on to explore through a painstaking examination of the imagery from Julius II's private library." Sixteenth Century Journal

From the Publisher

Joost-Gaugier (an independent scholar in art history) provides a wide-ranging analysis of the paintings Raphael created for Pope Julius II in this Vatican room. She proposes that it was the pope's librarian, Tommaso Inghirami who authored the program, and much of the book is devoted to linking the themes and personalities in the paintings to the new movement of humanism. She gives lengthy treatment to the iconography of the ceiling, and devotes a chapter to the mosaic pavement. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

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