Print this page Scandals, Intrigue and Rivalry in Renaissance Rome: the Re-making of the Vatican

This course takes you behind the scenes to witness the scandals, intrigues and rivalries at the heart of three masterpieces of Western Art: the Sistine Chapel, Jullius II”s private apartments (aka the Raphael Rooms) and St. Peter’s Basilica. Using Giorgio Vasari’s Lives of the Artists as the main source of gossip you’ll learn of the backstabbing and one-upmanship that went on between Raphael, Michelangelo and the architect of St. Peter’s, Donato Bramante. 

Deliver Mode

Face to Face and Online

Learning Materials

Hersey, George L (1993).  High Renaissance art in St. Peter's and the Vatican : an interpretive guide.  University of Chicago Press, Chicago London
Giorgio Vasari Lives of the artists a selection translated by George Bull. (Vite de' più eccellenti architetti, pittori et scultori italiani, New York Penguin Books 1987

Course Outline

An introduction to and exploration of the power plays, war-mongering and nepotism of Renaissance Rome. 

• The Humanist vision of Pope Nicholas V Parentucelli
• Rome’s transformation under the reigns of Sixtus IV, Julius II  and Leo X
• The dramatic sack of Rome in 1527 by the armies of Charles V.
• Paul III’s efforts to remake the city in the wake of the Reformation.
• The new St. Peter’s Basilica
• The development of St. Peter’s Basilica from the humble grave of the apostle to, 4th C basilica, Bramante’s new plans and the sculptural grandeur of Michelangelo’s Dome.
• The Raphael Rooms
• The private apartments of Julius II (and later Leo X) painted by Raphael while Bramante was building the new St. Peter’s and Michelangelo the Sistine Chapel ceiling.
• The Sistine Chapel

Beginning with the construction of the chapel in the 1480s by Sixtus IV we look at the chapel in its four distinct phases of decoration: 

• The Jesus and Moses cycles by Botticelli, Perugino and others
• The ceiling by Michelangelo painted
• Raphael’s tapestry design
• The Last Judgement by Michelangelo

Learning Outcomes

1. Understand the relationship between the power play and the art that produced them.
2. Know the history behind three of western art’s most famous works.
3. Distinguish between the works of different artists
4. Read the symbolic content of Christian art.