RAFFAELLO Sanzio
(b. 1483, Urbino, d. 1520, Roma)

Poetry (ceiling tondo)

1509-11
Fresco, diameter 180 cm
Stanza della Segnatura, Palazzi Pontifici, Vatican

The lyre and the laurel wreath are the symbols of Poetry, who here appears as a winged figure. Like Aristotle in The School of Athens, she is holding a book in an unusual way; the title is not known. Two putti are holding the tablets on which are written the words of the Roman poet Virgil's, "Numine Afflatur" (Inspired by the Spirit). The Christian "spirit" is meant here, since putti are holding the text and not genii, as with the figure of Philosophy.