Raffaello Sanzio

(Urbino , 1483 - Roma, 1520)

Based on

Oil on canvas

cm. 92x135

The work is a fine-quality copy of the celebrated fresco by Raphael, which gives its name to the second of the Vatican Rooms frescoed by the great master on commission from Pope Julius II, immediately after the so-called Stanza della Segnatura. As with all the extraordinary compositions conceived by Raphael in the Stanze, the Expulsion of Heliodorus from the Temple, thanks to its unparalleled balance between complexity of subject, boldness of invention, and narrative clarity, enjoyed vast and uninterrupted success over the centuries, lasting into the Neoclassical period, of which the present example is an eloquent testimony.