The four walls of the room of Heliodorus display four of Raphael’s masterpieces. As I stood in the middle of a room originally intended for private audiences with the Pope, surrounded by Raphael, one piece managed to stand out; the Liberation of St. Peter from prison. In researching this peace I had learned that it was a revolutionary study in night lighting. A nighttime scene didn’t seem like that big of a deal to me when reading about it, after all they are pretty common now. However, Raphael was not only the first to explore the concept, but he mastered it. It is not simply that the lighting used in the painting is different from his others, or even how it feels like you are looking into the night sky, but the lighting helps portray the quietness of night and the miraculous event taking place. The light appears bright and luminous. It is awesome, and I don’t mean the “dude, awesome” way that word tends to be thrown around, but you look up at it and are in awe. I stood there in a silent gaze. The way Raphael captured the beauty of light shining in the darkness of night through the moonlit sky and the majestic light of the angel truly had to be new and revolutionary.
-Allie
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