Sala di Constantino

Between the group of Stanze and the papal ceremonial rooms lies the Sala di Constantino. This large hall in the pope's residence was used in the Renaissance for banquets, audiences, and receptions. Its walls were originally decorated with a series of portraits of popes, and for that reason it was called the Sala dei Pontefici. Damage to the building led Leo X to have a new wooden ceiling installed in 1518-19, and in 1519 he commissioned new decoration from Raphael. The plan was to revive the old theme of a series of popes but also to supplement it with four large scenes from the history of the Roman emperor Constantine. The episodes with the emperor were to fill the centre of the walls as illusionistic tapestries with a total of eight popes from the early Christian period, depicted sitting on thrones under baldachins, on either side, flanked in turn by two virtues or personifications.

By the time of his death in April 1520, Raphael had managed to produce drawings for the paintings on two walls (The Vision of the Cross and The Battle at Pons Milvius). After the death of Raphael, Michelangelo had applied to Leo X through Sebastiano, del Piombo, an artist with whom Michelangelo was on friendly terms, to decorate the Sala di Constantino. However, despite the great success of his work in the Sistine Chapel, Michelangelo was rejected on the grounds that Raphael's pupil already had their master's designs, and it was these that would be painted.

On the basis of Raphael's sketches his pupils Giulio Romano and Giovanni Francesco Penni began the frescoes that year. The work was coordinated by Giulio Romano. At the time of Leo X's death in late 1521 more than half the hall had been decorated. Leo's successor, Hadrian IV, did not complete the project. Only in 1523, when Clement VII, Leo X's cousin, became pope, were Giulio and Penni able to continue the decoration, which they concluded in late summer 1524. They painted the two additional scenes, the Baptism of Constantine and the Donation of Rome. The room is named after the subjects of the frescoes.

The theme of the Sala di Costantino is the Church's rightful possession of lands supposedly donated to it by the Emperor Constantine in submission to the will of God. Since the deed of the Donation of Constantine had been proved to be a forgery dating from AD 750, Pope Leo X was here attempting to re-establish the Church's rightful claim.