Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
In the 1780s, after admiring color engravings of the Vatican Loggia, Catherine the Great
had this exact replica built of Raphael's famous hallway. It's virtually identical to the ori-
ginal, though the paintings here are tempera on canvas. They were copied from the fres-
coes in Rome (under the direction of Austrian painter Christoph Unterberger) and sent to
St. Petersburg along with a scale model of the entire ensemble.
The Loggia exudes the spirit of the Renaissance, melding the Christian world (52 biblic-
al scenes on the ceiling) and the Classical world (fanciful designs on the walls and arches).
The ceiling tells Christian history chronologically, starting with Adam and Eve and ending
with Christ's Last Supper. For the walls, Raphael used the “grotesque” style found in an-
cient archaeological sites, or “grottos.” This ancient style—lacy designs, garlands, flowers,
vases, and mythological animals—was resurrected by Raphael and became extremely pop-
ular with European nobility. The complex symbolism, mixing the Christian and pagan, also
intrigued the educated elite, and the Loggia has come to be called “Raphael's Bible.”
• When you're done in the Loggia, go back to the start of the hallway and turn left into
room 229, known as the
Majolica Room.
Here you'll find two authentic masterpieces by
Raphael.
Conestabile Madonna
(c. 1504): The dinner-plate-size painting just opposite the en-
trance is one of Raphael's first known works, painted when he was still a teenager.
Mother Mary multitasks, cradling baby Jesus while trying to read. Precocious Jesus seems
to be reading, too. Though realistic enough, the work shows a geometrically perfect
