[analyse_image type=”featured” src=”https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/GettyImages-1126083994.jpg?w=1024″]<\/p>\n
\n\tRaphael\u2019s epic fresco cycle, the Loggias, is getting a makeover.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\n\tThe Vatican Museums launched a restoration of the Renaissance masterpiece this week, unprecedented in scale: more than 20 experts are set to clean the artwork spanning 65 meters (nearly 215 feet) in the Apostolic Palace, also known as the Pope\u2019s residence. The project will last five years, addressing a slew of restoration concerns accrued over the centuries, the weather being chief among them. According to Italian media, windows will be installed to stabilize the corridors\u2019 climate.<\/p>\n
\n\tCreated between 1517 and 1519 by Raphael for Pope Leo X, the Loggias are divided into 13 bays on the second floor of the Apostolic Palace, overlooking a central covered promenade. Scenes from the Old and New Testaments unfold across its length, set within an elaborate decorative scheme inspired by Roman ornamentation.<\/p>\n
\n\tThe conservation team has noted numerous spots of deterioration in the paint, likely a consequence of the microclimate created by the glass windows surrounding the Loggias, which, ironically, were installed in the 19th century to shield the artwork from the elements.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\n\tThe intentions were pure: for roughly 400 years, the Loggias were fully exposed to rain, sunlight, snow, and humidity. Il Messaggero<\/em> reports that preliminary analysis of the frescoes found that two decorated sections on an angled portion of the wall were inadvertently sheltered from light, preserving the chromatic brilliance of their original state.\u00a0<\/p>\n \n\tAngela Cerreta, deputy head restorer for paintings and wooden\u00a0materials, told the Art Newspaper <\/em>that restorers will first attend to unstable paint before cleaning the frescoes with fiber lasers. After that, the team will color-match sections needing retouching using techniques that keep original passages visually distinct from restorations. Work is currently concentrated on four bays, before moving to the rest of the gallery.<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cThese adhesives shrink and peel off the paint,\u201d Cerreta said. \u201cIf you don\u2019t remove these adhesives and protective films, they\u2019ll keep stripping the color.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tThe restoration is supported by $5.5 million from the \u201cLegacy of Raphael: The Vatican and Beyond\u201d initiative, a World Monuments Fund project including restoration, training, and digital documentation, itself funded by a $14.3 million donation from the Stephen A. Schwarzman Foundation. The Patrons of the Arts in the Vatican Museums also funded the installation of the new windows, among other contributions.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n [analyse_source url=”https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/art-news\/news\/vatican-museums-raphael-frescoes-restoration-1234790506\/”]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" [analyse_image type=”featured” src=”https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/GettyImages-1126083994.jpg?w=1024″] Raphael\u2019s epic fresco cycle, the Loggias, is getting a makeover.\u00a0 The Vatican Museums launched a restoration of the Renaissance masterpiece this week, unprecedented in scale: more than 20 experts are set to clean the artwork spanning 65 meters (nearly 215 feet) in the Apostolic Palace, also known as the Pope\u2019s residence. The […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[61,226],"class_list":["post-2014488","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politics","tag-artnews-com","tag-crawlmanager"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2014488","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2014488"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2014488\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2014488"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2014488"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2014488"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}