A Monument to Pope Pius II: Pintorichio and Raphael in the Piccolomini Library in Siena, 1494-1508

Cardinal Francesco Todeschini-Piccolomini commissioned the construction and decoration of the Piccolomini Library in Siena (executed 1494-1508) in memory of his uncle, Aeneas Sylvius Piccolomini, Pope Pius II (1405-64). The library was built by the Cathedral Opera off the north aisle of the Duomo, to house the writings and library of Pius II and Cardinal Francesco's library. It was an open hall lit by only two high windows. Its ceiling, like the Sistine Ceiling, consisted of a curved, potentially rectangular surface along its centre and a series of severies and 'pendentives' around the perimeter, ideal for painting. Three windowless walls equally invited decoration, which, derived from the ceiling structure, formed a painted arcade all'antica to 'frame' the Piccolomini istoria.

Cardinal Francesco contracted Pintorichio (29 June 1502) to paint the life of Pius II on the walls and to decorate the ceiling with grotesques. Ten Piccolomini istorie were accompanied by descriptive epitaphs. The programme, prepared by Francesco in a (now lost) "memoriale et nota," was based on Pius II's Commentaries and his biography by Campano. Following Vasari and rejecting Morelli, this thesis sustains Raphael's contribution to the library cycle and the attribution to him of several related drawings. It is suggested that Raphael, assuming a role in the design insufficiently acknowledged in modern criticism, assisted Pintorichio in exploring a wide range of sources for the cycle, predominantly from Roman antiquity and classical, Central Italian, Quattrocento wall-painting. Visual sources cited include the Domus Aurea, the Arch of Constantine, Roman sarcophagi, the monumental narrative of Filippo Lippi, Benozzo Gozzoli, Melozzo da Forli and Domenico Ghirlandio, and Pollaiuolo's Tomb of Innocent VIII.

Literary sources in antiquity and Alberti's De pictura and De re aedificatoria are cited to support the hypothesis that Cardinal Francesco intended to have the library painted in the guise of an antique library-colonnade in a temple precinct, an appropriate setting for his Three Graces. Inspiration was drawn from the Vatican Library of Sixtus IV and from Platina, its librarian and governor, reaffirming a long tradition of papal portraiture.