The boy wonder of the renaissance- Raphael Sanzio- seems to be in the news of late. Last week we heard about the discovery of a preliminary drawing of a head of a muse for his Vatican fresco, Parnassus. Now I'm reading, courtesy of Artinfo, about an Italian couple who believed that they had found a miniature version of Raphael's celebrated paintings- the frescoes in the room of Heliodorus, not far from the Sistine Chapel- above.
Tarcisio and Teresa de Paolis, a couple from Civitavecchia, decided to do some DIY for an extra bathroom in their apartment, just outside Rome. They got more than they bargained for- a downsized version of the Raphael frescoes in the Stanza di Elidoro. Thinking about it, a bathroom would not be inappropriate for Raphael. After all, it is known that Raphael and his workshop decorated the bathroom of Cardinal Bibbiena, also in the Vatican- below.
It turns out that the work was done by an obscure painter by the name of Ugo da Scarpi. Do Artinfo mean Ugo di Carpi? Although I recall he was an engraver of Raphael's designs, not a painter. In that case I've never heard of this mysterious bathroom decorator.
The find is starting to attract interest from renowned Raphael scholars. Nicole Dacos, the author of a book on the Domus Aurea and its influence on renaissance art, including Raphael's designs for Bibbiena's Bathroom and Raphael's Loggia for Leo X, has declared that the place should be treated as a museum. Having gone public, the Paolis couple would be only too happy to oblige if someone could supply them with somewhere else to live!
Where's Bramante- Julius's II's architect- when you need him?
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