Room of the Fire in the Borgo

The pope in these scenes has the face of Leo X, although the episodes concern earlier popes named Leo. Sixteenth-century viewers were being asked to connect the reigning patron with events from centuries before his lifetime. The wall subjects include the Fire in the Borgo, the Battle of Ostia, the Crowning of Charlemagne and the Justification of Leo III. Raphael received the commission under Leo X and entrusted much of the painting to his workshop. The decoration was completed between 1514 and 1517. The room had already served another purpose. Under Julius II, it was used for meetings of the Segnatura tribunal, and Perugino painted its ceiling in 1508. Leo X used it as a dining room. Keep that change of use in mind when you look from the ceiling to the walls. The paintings belong to different commissions, while the historical events shown on the walls form another, much earlier layer of time.