Detail View: ADJUNCT MODULE B: ITALIAN ART: Sixtus IV appoints Bartolomeo Platina Prefect of the Vatican Library

Collection: 
ADJUNCT MODULE B: ITALIAN ART
Preferred Title: 
Sixtus IV appoints Bartolomeo Platina Prefect of the Vatican Library
Alternate Title: 
Sisto IV nomina Bartolomeo Platina primo Prefetto della Biblioteca Vaticana
Image View: 
Detail, central figures, Pope, four nephews and the kneeling librarian Platina (the humanist Bartolomeo Sacchi)
Creator: 
Melozzo da Forlì (Italian painter, 1438-1494)
Location: 
repository: Musei Vaticani (Rome (Vatican City), Santa Sede (Holy See), Italy) Inv. 40270
Location Note: 
Vatican Museums (Pinacoteca); Viale Vaticano
GPS: 
+41.906389+12.454444
Date: 
1476-1477 (creation)
Cultural Context: 
Italian
Style Period: 
Fifteenth century; Renaissance
Work Type 1: 
fresco (painting)
Classification: 
Paintings
Material: 
fresco transferred to canvas
Technique: 
fresco painting (technique)
Measurements: 
3.75 m (height) x 3.25 m (width)
Subjects: 
architecture; rulers and leaders; Julius II, Pope, 1443-1513; Sixtus IV, Pope, 1414-1484; libraries
Description: 
This fresco was originally located on the north wall of the Vatican Library facing the entrance to the Biblioteca Latina. The scene depicts the Pope surrounded by four nephews: Raffaele Riario, Cardinal Giuliano della Rovere (later Julius II), Giovanni della Rovere and Girolamo Riario. The librarian Platina (the humanist Bartolomeo Sacchi) kneels and points to an inscription praising the Pope’s urban renovations. The figures are arranged (seen from a low viewpoint) in the foreground of a deep architectural setting, with grand proportions and classicizing ornament. This recalls Mantegna's work in the Camera degli Sposi which must have been familiar to Melozzo. (Source: Grove Art Online; http://www.oxfordartonline.com/)
Collection: 
Adjunct Module B: Italian Art
Identifier: 
7A1-FROLI-VM-SBP-A02
Rights: 
© Scott Gilchrist, Archivision, Inc.