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Stanza della Segnatura III The Cardinal Virtues
11 Nov 2009
Geoffrey's Gordon's four movement chamber work is inspired by Raphael's frescoes in the Stanza della Segnatura in the Vatican Palace, painted between 1508 and 1512 under the auspices of Pope Julius II, constitute one of the greatest cycles of painting produced during the Italian Renaissance. (He started working on these stanzas in early 1509 and finished in November 1511.)
The first of Pope Julius II's rooms in the papal apartments to be decorated with Raphael's frescoes was the study in which the "Signatura gratiae" tribunal was originally located (Stanza della Segnatura). The artist's concept brings into harmony the spirits of Antiquity and Christianity.
The humanist quadripartition of culture - theology, poetry, justice and philosophy - has a parallel in the four elements making up the universe: air, water, fire and earth. Each of these is represented by an allegorical painting on the walls of this room: Theology was represented by Disputa (the Adoration), poetry by Parnassus,