Disputation of the Sacrament

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Disputation of the Sacrament: Raphael

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Raphael Various Paintings - Disputation of the Sacrament

Keywords: Disputation, Sacrament

Work Overview: Disputation of the Sacrament
Artist Raphael
Year 1509–1510
Type Fresco
Dimensions 500 cm × 770 cm (200 in × 300 in)
Location Apostolic Palace, Vatican City

The Disputation of the Sacrament (Italian: La disputa del sacramento), or Disputa, is a painting by the Italian Renaissance artist Raphael. It was painted between 1509 and 1510 as only the first part of Raphael's commission to decorate with frescoes the rooms that are now known as the Stanze di Raffaello, in the Apostolic Palace in the Vatican. At the time, this room was known as the Stanza della Segnatura, and was the private papal library where the supreme papal tribunal met.

In the painting, Raphael has created a scene spanning both heaven and earth. Above, Christ is surrounded by a halo, with the Blessed Virgin Mary, John the Baptist at his right and left. Other various biblical figures such as Adam, Jacob and Moses are to the sides. God the Father sits above Jesus, depicted reigning over the golden light of heaven, and below Christ's feet is the Holy Spirit. On opposite sides of the Holy Spirit are the four gospels, held by putti. Below, on the altar sits the monstrance.

The altar is flanked by theologians who are depicted debating Transubstantiation.[2] Christ's Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity is the Holy Eucharist, which is discussed by representatives of the Church; among them are the original four Doctors of the Church, with Pope Gregory I and Jerome seated to the left of the altar and Augustine and Ambrose to the right, Pope Julius II, Pope Sixtus IV, Savonarola and Dante Alighieri. Pope Sixtus IV is the gold dressed pope in the bottom of the painting. Directly behind Sixtus is Dante, wearing red and sporting a laurel wreath (symbolizing his greatness as a poet).[3] The bald figure reading a book and leaning over a railing in the left hand corner is Raphael's mentor and Renaissance architect Bramante.

Composition:
The distinguished people depicted in the Disputation such as Pope Sixtus IV (the uncle of Pope Julius II) mix with the fathers and doctors of the early and medieval Church without any break in continuity.

Raphael has created a scene spanning both heaven and earth. Above, Christ is surrounded by the Blessed Virgin Mary, John the Baptist and various biblical figures such as Adam, Moses and Jacob. God sits above Jesus, depicted reigning over the golden light of heaven. Below, on the altar sits the monstrance. The altar is flanked by theologians who are depicted debating Transubstantiation. Christ's body is represented in the Eucharist, which is discussed by representatives of the Church. Among them are Pope Julius II, Pope Sixtus IV, Savonarola and Dante Alighieri. Pope Sixtus IV is the gold dressed pope in the bottom of the painting. Directly behind Sixtus is Dante, wearing red and sporting a laurel wreath. In the left hand corner, there is a bald figure reading a book leaning over a railing. This is the Renaissance architect Bramante.

Perspective:
For Renaissance era visitors Raphael's Disputation of the Holy Sacrament would have resembled an eschatological situation announced earlier by the liturgy. In a brilliant design in perspective, the painting guides the viewer's eye to the altar, which is situated in a space below the half-circle of clouds upon which Christ and others are sitting. The Disputation's semicircular space seems to be like an apse, without walls or a roof, where two assemblies of equal size and dignity reflect and debate on the nature of Christ.

There is also a hidden, though not so well to be overlooked, design by which Raphael painted a great cross composed through the horizontal line of saints, prophets and patriarchs on the clouds and the vertical line of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, along with the Eucharist.

Looking at the Disputation of the Holy Sacrament from top to bottom, it represents clearly the Trinity of the Church. At the same time as contemplating this Trinity the horizontal in Raphael's piece show our (humanity's collective) future in heaven with Mary and all of the saints. Where the two axes are crossed in the painting the unity between God and man is preserved through the image of Jesus Christ, the son of God, who is seated above the two schools. The four Gospels visible from the wings of the Spirit hovering above the monstrance suggest the unbreakable relationship between the Eucharist bread and the word of God.

Color palette:
Raphael's mural painting techniques used permanent lime proof pigments, dispersed in water, which were painted on freshly laid lime plaster. His use of color is the closest to perfection as nearly any artist. During the restoration of the Disputation of the Holy Sacrament the colors were not lost.

Use of light:
Similarly to Michelangelo, he creates lights and shadows within the tones of a single color and combines color in a dramatic manner.

Mood, tone and emotion:
The Vatican Museum's restorers found the Disputation in relatively good condition. However, the wall behind the fresco had originally supported a fireplace, which was later removed and placed in the Stanza with the fresco. The heat from the fireplace created many cracks and caused the wall to swell. The people responsible for restoring the fissures used lighter tones in order to make them less obvious.

Brush stroke:
Raphael's brush stroke included the use of Secco (the technique of painting a mural on dried lime plaster or retouching a fresco after it was hardened) and Intonaco (putting the final coat of plaster on the fresco while it is still wet) techniques. His mastery of brush stroke is evident in the idealized portraits that represent key figures from the Old and New Testaments, saints, Doctors of the Church, theologians and literary personages.

During life:
For the sensibility of Raphael's time, the immediate impact of the message of Disputation of the Holy Sacrament was of an eschatological character. It showed clearly the relationship between the Church as militant upon the earth, and the Church triumphant in heaven.

The viewer would have also noted the vertical axis defined by God the Father above, Christ who is displaying his wounds in the middle, and the Holy Spirit in the form of a dove descending in a nimbus of glory below Christ. So after the first impression referring to end times, observers would have made a theological reflection on the Trinitarian structure of the sacrament of the life of the three divine persons.

For a visitor at the time of the Renaissance, the Disputation must have suggested an eschatological situation announced beforehand by the liturgy.

After death:
Raphael's collective work on the Stanza della Segnatura, including the Disputation of the Holy Sacrament has always been highly regarded by the public and art critics alike since its unveiling in 1511.

Raphael's methods of preparing to paint, of adjusting his ideas by reference to nature, of studying drapery and extremities separately as demonstrated in the Disputation and following works, were largely abandoned after his death by his pupils and not followed widely by many leading 16th century artists.

However, by the end of that century those methods became exemplary in the artistic teaching established by the Carracci family in Bologna. The Stanza della Segnatura is therefore a body of work incorporated into the discipline of the art academies that spread across Europe in the following centuries.

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The Disputation of the Holy Sacrament represents Christianity's victory over the multiple philosophical tendencies shown in the School of Athens fresco painted on the opposite wall. Unlike the philosophers of the School of Athens, who are gathered together in a vaulted temple, the theologians of the Disputation make up the Church's architecture. They form one body, united in an ethereal apse flanking the Trinity and the Eucharist, which when consecrated becomes the body of Christ.

In the painting, Raphael has created a scene spanning both heaven and earth. Above, Christ is surrounded by a halo, with the Blessed Virgin Mary, John the Baptist a his right and left. Other various biblical figures such as Adam, Jacob and Moses are to the sides. God the Father sits above Jesus, depicted reigning over the golden light of heaven, and below Christ's feet is the Holy Spirit. On opposite sides of the Holy Spirit are the four gospels, held by putto. Below, on the altar sits the monstrance.

The structure of the composition is characterized by extreme clarity and simplicity, which Raphael achieved through sketches, studies and drawings containing notable differences in pose. References to other artists are visible throughout the composition (the young Francesco Maria Della Rovere, for example, possesses a Leonardo-like physiognomy). But the layout, the gestures and the poses are original products of Raphael's research, which here reaches a degree of admirable balance and high expressive dignity.

The fresco can be seen as a portrayal of the Church Militant below, and the Church Triumphant above. A change in content between a study and the final fresco shows that the Disputa and The School of Athens can be seen as having a common theme: the revealed truth of the origin of all things, in other words the Trinity. This cannot be apprehended by intellect alone (philosophy), but is made manifest in the Eucharist.

The painting is built around the monstrance containing the consecrated Host, located on the altar. Figures representing the Triumphant Church and the Militant Church are arranged in two semicircles, one above the other, and venerate the Host. God the Father, bathed in celestial glory, blesses the crowd of biblical and ecclesiastical figures from the top of the composition. Immediately below, the resurrected Christ sits on a throne of clouds between the Virgin (bowed in adoration) and St John the Baptist (who, according to iconographic tradition, points to Christ). Prophets and saints of the Old and New Testament are seated around this central group on a semicircular bank of clouds similar to that which constitutes the throne of Christ. They form a composed and silent crowd and, although they are painted with large fields of colour, the figures are highly individuated.

At the bottom of the picture space, inserted in a vast landscape dominated by the altar and the eucharistic sacrifice, are saints, popes, bishops, priests and the mass of the faithful. They represent the Church which has acted, and which continues to act, in the world, and which contemplates the glory of the Trinity with the eyes of the mind. Following a fifteenth century tradition, Raphael has placed portraits of famous personalities, both living and dead, among the people in the crowd. Bramante leans on the balustrade at left; the young man standing near him has been identified as Francesco Maria Della Rovere; Pope Julius II, who personifies Gregory the Great, is seated near the altar Dante is visible on the right, distinguished by a crown of laurel. The presence of Savonarola seems strange, but may be explained by the fact that Julius II revoked Pope Alexander VI's condemnation of Savonarola (Julius was an adversary of Alexander, who was a Borgia).

The structure of the composition is characterized by extreme clarity and simplicity, which Raphael achieved through sketches, studies and drawings containing notable differences in pose. References to other artists are visible throughout the composition (the young Francesco Maria Della Rovere, for example, possesses a Leonardo-like physiognomy). But the layout, the gestures and the poses are original products of Raphael's research, which here reaches a degree of admirable balance and high expressive dignity.

On the wall opposite the School of Athens, corresponding to Theology, is the fresco of the so-called Disputation of the Most Holy Sacrament, the title of which should more rightly be that of the Triumph of Religion. At the sides of the Most Holy Trinity (with God the Father, Christ between the Virgin and St John the Baptist, and the Holy Spirit in the centre) is the Triumphant Church, with patriarchs and prophets of the Old Testament alternated with apostles and martyrs, seated in a hemicycle on the clouds. The personages are (from left to right for the viewer). St Peter, Adam, St John the Evangelist, David, St Laurence, Judas Maccabees, St Stephen, Moses, St James the elder, Abraham, St Paul. On the ground, at the sides of the altar on which the Most Holy Sacrament dominates, is the Militant Church. On the marble thrones closest to the altar sit four Fathers of the Latin Church: St Gregory the Great (a portrait of Julius II), St Jerome, St Ambrose and St Augustine. Some other figures have the physiognomy of historical personages. We recognize the portrait of Sixtus IV (Julius II's uncle) in the pontiff furthest to the right, of Dante Alighieri behind him and of Beato Angelico in the monk on the extreme left.

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