Sixth article in the Raphael series. If you want to learn how to describe actions happening at the same time in Italian, book a private online lesson or join the course waiting list at my-italian-teacher.ch.
The artwork at a glance
- Artist: Raphael
- Title: The Liberation of Saint Peter from Prison (Liberazione di San Pietro)
- Date: 1514 (the date appears on two painted tablets in the fresco)
- Medium: fresco, an overdoor framing a real window; about 5.6 m wide
- Location: Room of Heliodorus, Vatican Museums
- Text: Acts of the Apostles 12:5-12
A fresco built with light
Visitors entering the Room of Heliodorus in the Vatican Museums are struck by a wall smaller than the others, interrupted by a window. Raphael turned it into one of his masterpieces: Raphael’s Liberation of Saint Peter, a night scene in which light becomes the true protagonist. A radiant angel enters the prison, wakes Peter, chained between two sleeping soldiers, and leads him out, while the guards outside notice the escape too late.
The Vatican Museums draw attention to a remarkable detail: in the fresco Raphael compares the divine light of the angel with that of dawn, the moon, the torches and their reflections on the armour, and even with the natural light entering from the real window. Before we get to the light, though, it helps to understand why this scene is here at all. The Italian workshop at the end deals with the connectives we use to say that two things happen at the same time.
1. The Room of Heliodorus: a political programme
The room was used for the pope’s private audiences and was decorated by Raphael immediately after the Room of the Segnatura, from 1511. The programme, the Vatican Museums explain, is political: it documents, at different moments in history, God’s miraculous protection of the threatened Church.
| Fresco | What is protected |
|---|---|
| The Mass at Bolsena | The faith |
| The Liberation of Saint Peter | The person of the pope |
| The Meeting of Leo the Great and Attila | The see, that is Rome |
| The Expulsion of Heliodorus from the Temple | The Church’s patrimony |
These episodes expressed the programme of Julius II, determined to free Italy from the French and to restore the papacy’s temporal power. On the vault Raphael painted four Old Testament episodes; in the decorative areas traces remain of an earlier decoration entrusted to other painters, including Luca Signorelli, Bramantino, Lorenzo Lotto and Cesare da Sesto, later interrupted because of the pope’s enthusiasm for Raphael.
The reference to Julius II
The scene alludes directly to the patron: before becoming pope, Giuliano della Rovere had been cardinal of San Pietro in Vincoli, the Roman basilica that houses the apostle’s chains. Julius II died in February 1513 and the fresco was completed in 1514, under his successor Leo X. Some scholars have also proposed a reading referring to the new pope, Giovanni de’ Medici, who in 1512 had been taken prisoner after the Battle of Ravenna and had managed to escape: an interesting hypothesis, but still an interpretation.
2. Three scenes in one
The fresco unfolds around the window and tells the story in three moments, in a symmetrical balance created by the painted architecture and the stairs.
- In the centre, behind a grille, the angel appears in the cell and wakes Peter, who sleeps chained between two soldiers.
- On the right, the angel leads the still dazed Peter by the hand down the steps; the guards are asleep.
- On the left, the soldiers wake and raise the alarm; one of them holds a torch.
The viewer reads the story almost like a film sequence, without losing the unity of the scene. The prison grille, pierced by light, both divides and connects the episodes.
3. The light sources
The heart of the work is its study of light. We can distinguish at least five sources or effects of light, all mentioned by the Vatican Museums:
| Source | Where | Effect |
|---|---|---|
| The angel’s light | Centre and right | Intense, dazzling, almost shadowless: the light of grace |
| Moon | In the sky on the left | Cold, veiled by clouds |
| Dawn | On the horizon | A first glimmer announcing the day |
| Torches | Held by the soldiers | Warm and reddish, a sign of alarm |
| Reflections | On the metal armour | Gleams that give body to the night |
To these we must add the real light from the window, which enters the room and, especially at certain times of day, creates a backlighting effect that makes the painted wall look even darker and more dramatic. Raphael turns an architectural constraint into an expressive resource.
“The first night scene”? A clarification
The fresco is sometimes called “the first true night scene of Renaissance painting”. It isn’t: already in the fifteenth century Piero della Francesca had painted the famous Dream of Constantine in the Legend of the True Cross cycle in Arezzo, a night scene lit by the apparition of an angel. It is more accurate to say that the Liberation of Saint Peter is one of the most complex and innovative night scenes of the Renaissance, for the variety of light sources it stages.
4. A dialogue with the other walls
The Liberation of Saint Peter should be read together with the other scenes in the room. In the Mass at Bolsena, on the opposite wall, Raphael faces a similar problem: there too a window interrupts the wall, and the painter builds the composition around it, including Julius II kneeling as a witness to the miracle. In the Meeting of Leo the Great and Attila, completed under the new pontificate, the fifth-century pope takes on the features of Leo X.
The change from one pope to the next can thus be seen on the walls themselves: the cycle, conceived to celebrate Julius II, becomes a celebration of the continuity of the papacy. When visiting the Vatican Museums today, it is worth observing the room as a whole, turning around slowly: the four scenes form a single statement about the divine protection of the Church.
5. A surprisingly modern work
Here light does more than illuminate the figures: it guides us through the story, from one episode to the next. The real window, which could have been an obstacle, becomes part of the work. And compared with the calm of the Room of the Segnatura, the mood is more dramatic and restless. Night and artificial light would become a central theme for painters in the following centuries, from Caravaggio onwards.
6. Italian language workshop (B2-C1)
Glossary
- Notturno (night scene): a painting depicting a scene at night.
- Sopraporta (overdoor): decoration placed above a door or opening.
- Controluce (backlighting): the effect produced when the light source is behind the subject.
- Grata (grille): a structure of crossed bars closing an opening.
- Riflesso (reflection): light thrown back by a shiny surface.
Grammar: expressing simultaneity in Italian
- mentre (“while”): Mentre Pietro dorme, l’angelo entra nella cella.
- nel momento in cui / nell’istante in cui (“the moment that”): Nel momento in cui l’angelo lo tocca, Pietro si sveglia.
- man mano che / via via che (“as”, progressive actions): Man mano che ci si allontana dall’angelo, la notte diventa più fitta.
- intanto / nel frattempo (“meanwhile”): L’angelo guida Pietro; intanto i soldati dormono.
- contemporaneamente (“at the same time”): Un soldato dà l’allarme; contemporaneamente la luna illumina il cielo.
- gerundio: L’angelo guida Pietro tenendolo per mano.
Exercise
Fill in with the most suitable connective: mentre, nel frattempo, man mano che, nel momento in cui.
- ____ l’angelo appare, la cella si riempie di luce.
- I soldati dormono ____ Pietro esce dalla prigione.
- ____ Pietro scende i gradini, la luce dell’angelo si allontana dalle guardie.
- L’angelo e Pietro fuggono; ____, a sinistra, una guardia sveglia i compagni.
Answers: 1. Nel momento in cui; 2. mentre; 3. Man mano che; 4. nel frattempo.
Speaking task
Describe aloud in Italian, in two minutes, what happens in the three scenes of the fresco, using at least four different connectives. It is useful practice for B2 oral exams.
Telling a story with light
In the Liberation of Saint Peter the light tells the story at least as much as the gestures do. Describing a scene like this in Italian calls for the right connectives, the ones that say two things are happening at once. If you would like to practise with a guide, book a one-to-one online lesson at my-italian-teacher.ch. The courses are coming and the waiting list is open; on the blog you will find the free A1 grammar course.
Recommended reading and resources
- Roger Jones, Nicholas Penny, Raphael, Yale University Press. View on Amazon
- Konrad Oberhuber, Raphael: The Paintings, Prestel. View on Amazon
- The Acts of the Apostles, in a good annotated edition of the Bible. Search on Amazon
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Sources
- Vatican Museums, Liberation of Saint Peter (biblical text, reference to Julius II, light sources)
- Vatican Museums, Room of Heliodorus (function, political programme, earlier decoration)
- Hamilton College, Wellin Museum, historical photograph record (the 1514 date on the painted tablets)
- Wikipedia, Liberation of Saint Peter (size, three-scene structure, overdoor)
