Seventh article in the Raphael series, between painting, Latin epic and ancient architecture. If you love Latin and Italian, book a private online lesson or join the course waiting list at my-italian-teacher.ch.
The artwork at a glance
- Artist: Raphael and workshop
- Title: The Fire in the Borgo (Incendio di Borgo)
- Date: c. 1514; the decoration of the room was completed between 1514 and July 1517
- Medium: fresco
- Patron: Pope Leo X de’ Medici (pope from 1513 to 1521)
- Location: Room of the Fire in the Borgo, Vatican Museums
- Source of the subject: Liber Pontificalis, life of Leo IV
A medieval fire for a Renaissance pope
In 847, according to the Liber Pontificalis, the medieval collection of papal biographies, a violent fire broke out in the Borgo, the district in front of Saint Peter’s basilica. Pope Leo IV is said to have miraculously put it out by making the sign of the cross from the loggia of the palace. Almost seven centuries later, Leo X asked Raphael to depict this episode in the room that now bears its name.
Raphael’s Fire in the Borgo stands out for more than one reason. It is first of all a political manifesto, because the medieval pope has the features of the reigning pontiff. It is a dialogue with classical literature, because an obvious quotation from Virgil’s Aeneid appears in the foreground. And it is a reflection on ancient architecture, which Raphael was studying intensely in those very years.
The Italian workshop at the end of the article is about the passive voice, which you meet everywhere in art history books and museum labels.
1. The room and its programme
In Julius II’s time the room hosted the meetings of the Segnatura Gratiae et Iustitiae, the supreme court of the Holy See. The vault paintings, commissioned in 1508 from Perugino, Raphael’s master, are linked to that function, and his former pupil chose to keep them. Under Leo X the room became a dining room, and Raphael was commissioned to fresco the walls, leaving much of the execution to his pupils.
The frescoes illustrate Leo X’s political aspirations through episodes from the lives of two earlier popes who bore the same name:
| Pope | Episode | Message |
|---|---|---|
| Leo III | Coronation of Charlemagne | The pope as the source of imperial legitimacy |
| Leo III | Oath of Leo III | The pope judged by God alone |
| Leo IV | Fire in the Borgo | The pope as protector of Rome |
| Leo IV | Battle of Ostia (849) | The pope as defender of Christendom |
In every episode the pope has the face of Leo X. In the dado, painted in monochrome, sit six emperors and rulers who protected the Church. The past becomes a mirror of the present.
2. The composition of the Fire
- In the background stands the façade of Old Saint Peter’s, the Constantinian basilica with its mosaics, soon to be demolished to make way for the new basilica. From the loggia, small and distant, the pope gives his blessing.
- On the right, men and women bring water to put out the flames; a young woman balances a water jar on her head.
- In the centre, women and children turn towards the pope with gestures of supplication.
- On the left, among burning buildings, the most famous scene unfolds: a young man carries an old man on his shoulders, while a boy walks beside them.
The structure is theatrical: the side buildings act as wings, the foreground is filled with collective action, the backdrop with the basilica. Curiously, the miracle itself is the smallest part of the scene.
3. Aeneas, Anchises and Ascanius: Virgil in the Vatican
The group on the left clearly echoes a passage from Book II of the Aeneid: Aeneas flees burning Troy carrying his old father Anchises on his shoulders and leading his son Ascanius by the hand. In Virgil’s poem the scene symbolises pietas, devotion to family and gods, and marks the beginning of the journey that will lead to the founding of Rome.
Placing this quotation in the pope’s residence builds an ideal genealogy: Christian Rome, protected by the pontiff, is the heir of Aeneas’ Rome. Pagan pietas is transformed into Christian charity. For Latin students, the fresco offers a rare chance to see a classical text translated into an image; Virgil’s passage (Aeneid II, roughly lines 707-729) can be read alongside the painting.
4. Raphael, Vitruvius and ancient architecture
The buildings framing the scene are conceived on the model of ancient Roman architecture: colonnades, entablatures, classical orders. From 1514, after Bramante’s death, Raphael was architect of the Fabbrica di San Pietro, and in the same years he was systematically studying the ruins of Rome.
To be able to read Vitruvius‘ De architectura, the only treatise on architecture to survive from antiquity, Raphael had the Latin text translated into the vernacular by the humanist from Ravenna Marco Fabio Calvo, his close collaborator and a frequent guest in his house. The manuscript of that translation, with annotations in Raphael’s own hand, is preserved in the Bayerische Staatsbibliothek in Munich (Cod. It. 37). It is direct evidence of the intellectual work behind the painted architecture: Raphael does not merely evoke antiquity, he studies it from the sources.
This commitment would lead to the famous Letter to Leo X on the protection of Rome’s antiquities, the subject of the ninth article in the series.
5. The role of the workshop
In the years of the Fire in the Borgo Raphael was the most sought-after painter in Rome and ran a true artistic enterprise. The Vatican Museums stress that much of the work on the walls was entrusted to pupils, among whom Giulio Romano and Giovan Francesco Penni stand out. The invention of the scene and the preparatory drawings are the master’s; the execution is largely the workshop’s. Distinguishing the hands is one of the classic problems of Raphael scholarship.
6. The other walls: the Battle of Ostia
On the wall next to the Fire is the Battle of Ostia, which recalls the naval battle of 849 between the Saracen fleet and a Christian league formed by ships of the pope, Naples and Gaeta. According to tradition, a storm destroyed the enemy ships after Leo IV’s prayer. Here too the medieval pope has the face of Leo X, and the scene takes on a contemporary meaning: during his pontificate Leo X supported the idea of a crusade against the Ottoman Empire.
Comparing the two scenes is instructive. The Fire in the Borgo is a choral, theatrical composition with a strong interest in bodies and emotions; the Battle of Ostia is more crowded and less unified, a sign of execution largely entrusted to pupils. Observing these differences helps us understand how Raphael’s workshop operated: the master invented, the assistants translated the invention onto the wall with varying levels of quality.
7. Italian language workshop (C1-C2)
Glossary
- Liber Pontificalis: a medieval collection of papal biographies.
- Zoccolo (dado): the lower band of a decorated wall.
- Quinta (wing): a side element of a stage set; in painting, architecture framing the scene.
- Trabeazione (entablature): the horizontal part supported by columns.
- Pietas: in Roman culture, devotion to gods, country and family.
- Bottega (workshop): the artist’s studio, with pupils and assistants.
Grammar: the Italian passive voice
- Essere + past participle (all tenses): La stanza fu decorata tra il 1514 e il 1517.
- Venire + past participle (simple tenses only; stresses the action): Il miracolo viene raccontato nel Liber Pontificalis.
- Andare + past participle (necessity, “must be”): L’esecuzione va attribuita in gran parte alla bottega.
- Si passivante: Sullo sfondo si vede la vecchia basilica.
- Agent introduced by da: Il trattato fu tradotto da Fabio Calvo.
The constructions with venire and andare have no exact English equivalent and are a hallmark of advanced written Italian.
Exercise
Change the sentences from active to passive.
- Leone X commissionò gli affreschi.
- Gli allievi eseguono gran parte delle pitture.
- Bisogna leggere la scena di Enea come una citazione virgiliana. (use andare)
- Vediamo la basilica costantiniana sullo sfondo. (use the si passivante)
Answers: 1. Gli affreschi furono commissionati da Leone X. 2. Gran parte delle pitture viene (è) eseguita dagli allievi. 3. La scena di Enea va letta come una citazione virgiliana. 4. Sullo sfondo si vede la basilica costantiniana.
Writing task
Write a short museum label in Italian (120-150 words) about a work of your choice, using at least three different passive forms. It is the register required in informative texts at C1-C2 level.
A miracle, a poem, a treatise
In the Fire in the Borgo a medieval miracle, a Latin poem and the study of ancient architecture all work together for the pope. For anyone who loves Latin, it is hard to find a better example of how the Renaissance read the classics. If you want to study Italian or Latin through these texts, book a one-to-one online lesson at my-italian-teacher.ch. The courses are in preparation and the waiting list is open; on the blog you will find the free A1 grammar course.
Recommended reading and resources
- Virgil, The Aeneid, in a good bilingual Latin-English edition. Search on Amazon
- Vincenzo Fontana, Paolo Morachiello (eds.), Vitruvio e Raffaello. Il De architectura di Vitruvio nella traduzione inedita di Fabio Calvo ravennate, Officina, 1975. Search on Amazon
- Roger Jones, Nicholas Penny, Raphael, Yale University Press. View on Amazon
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Sources
- Vatican Museums, Room of the Fire in the Borgo (function, Perugino’s vault, dates, programme, role of the pupils)
- Heidelberg University, ART-Dok, “La stanza dell’incendio. Iconografia” (Virgilian quotation, all’antica architecture)
- Heidelberg University, ART-Dok, entry on Fabio Calvo (Vitruvius translation annotated by Raphael, Munich, Cod. It. 37)
- Canadian Centre for Architecture, record for “Vitruvio e Raffaello”
- Wikipedia, Battle of Ostia (painting) (date 849, link to the Vatican Museums record)
