DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.61022#0170
ROMAN ART
but failed in concentration. In this fresco there is all the con-
centration of the other frescoes devoted to a more restricted
group. Only drama is wanting.
The chief effort in the decoration of this room was probably
reserved for the third picture, the ‘Repulse of Attila’ (Plates
lxxxiv., lxxxv.). In it not only was the divine favour of the
Church to be represented by the overthrow of a barbarian, as in
the 4 Heliodorus,’ and a single pictorial incident to be dramati-
cally treated, but a whole scene was to have been shown of a
mighty army descending upon Rome through regions which it had
devastated, and brought to a sudden stand still by the appearance
of a mightier force. It was a subject which older painters might
have treated in their dry way, suggesting the number of the
invaders by a multitude of evenly painted figures, and placing
somewhere in the centre or at the sides the central incident of
Attila’s overthrow. But Leonardo in his cartoon at Florence had
shown that a battle could be treated in another way. Raphael
seems to have determined to surpass him in his attempt to depict
the scene with all the grandeur of figure, and breadth of space and
atmosphere which a more critical taste demanded in order that
emotion might be aroused. To attain this end the formal treatment
which had failed in the 4 Heliodorus ’ was discarded. Attila was
brought into the centre and well into the front. A few figures in
the foreground advanced diagonally towards him, setting him into
his proper position in the space. To the right the massed troops
were placed in apparent confusion. They disappeared into the
distance behind the hills with the same effect of space as was used
in the 4 Disputa.’ To the left a few scattered figures broke up the
line of Attila’s advance, again suggesting confusion and carrying
the eye partly to him and partly to the two figures of the flying
apostles who were, with Attila, the centre of the picture. In the
middle distance, set in a calm landscape and below a clear sky,
the Pope knelt with his following in prayer, a counterfoil in his
own character and that of his surroundings to the barbarian
148
but failed in concentration. In this fresco there is all the con-
centration of the other frescoes devoted to a more restricted
group. Only drama is wanting.
The chief effort in the decoration of this room was probably
reserved for the third picture, the ‘Repulse of Attila’ (Plates
lxxxiv., lxxxv.). In it not only was the divine favour of the
Church to be represented by the overthrow of a barbarian, as in
the 4 Heliodorus,’ and a single pictorial incident to be dramati-
cally treated, but a whole scene was to have been shown of a
mighty army descending upon Rome through regions which it had
devastated, and brought to a sudden stand still by the appearance
of a mightier force. It was a subject which older painters might
have treated in their dry way, suggesting the number of the
invaders by a multitude of evenly painted figures, and placing
somewhere in the centre or at the sides the central incident of
Attila’s overthrow. But Leonardo in his cartoon at Florence had
shown that a battle could be treated in another way. Raphael
seems to have determined to surpass him in his attempt to depict
the scene with all the grandeur of figure, and breadth of space and
atmosphere which a more critical taste demanded in order that
emotion might be aroused. To attain this end the formal treatment
which had failed in the 4 Heliodorus ’ was discarded. Attila was
brought into the centre and well into the front. A few figures in
the foreground advanced diagonally towards him, setting him into
his proper position in the space. To the right the massed troops
were placed in apparent confusion. They disappeared into the
distance behind the hills with the same effect of space as was used
in the 4 Disputa.’ To the left a few scattered figures broke up the
line of Attila’s advance, again suggesting confusion and carrying
the eye partly to him and partly to the two figures of the flying
apostles who were, with Attila, the centre of the picture. In the
middle distance, set in a calm landscape and below a clear sky,
the Pope knelt with his following in prayer, a counterfoil in his
own character and that of his surroundings to the barbarian
148