Probably just an editing error but I find it interesting that, according to the text of the article, they were finished with the restoration before they ever started.
>The restoration of the Hall of Constantine began in March 2025 and was completed in December 2024.
Someone probably fat-fingered a number in one or more of those dates or swapped them.
Probably suitably air-gapped so that none of us plebes can remote into it and spin for a random date to kick off a global reboot.
I wonder whether it uses a joystick, scrolling wheel, or a user-selectable date and whether the user can pick their spawn point. What is the date format? Gregorian calendar or earlier? Is the machine bright enough make date corrections based on where you want to go on that date if the location doesn't use a standard European calendar?
It would really suck to pick a date where you know something important was gonna happen and find out you rolled it all back to a different continent because you glitched the part where you were supposed to end up in Atlantis and found yourself treading water in the middle of the Atlantic because of a spelling error.
Too many questions here. The unknownable unknowns are a real drag.
> The artwork was already there, so not sure 'discovered' is the right word.
"Discovered" is used exactly once in the article, in the sentence, "urther, the conservators discovered metal nails under some of these plaster frescoes, which they believe were likely inserted to hold in place more of the resin surface for oil painting." Seems to be exactly the right word where it is used.
It isn't used referring to the work itself, which obviously was not discovered and which the article doesn't suggest was.
> Does it make a difference now we know it was painted by Raphael himself?
It clearly makes a difference to understanding of the provenance of the piece and, from the other side, knowledge of the body of Raphael's work. Whether that's important to you will, of course, vary based on how important those issues are to you.
Probably not, considering that many (possibly most) of the well known modern and contemporary painters have other people put the paint on the canvas for them.
Do you mean the dragon in the background? Fwiw dinosaur fossils have been found for thousands of years already, with theories being that the Cyclops was based on mammoth skulls and griffins on triceratops fossils.
The mammoth-cyclops/griffin-triceratops connection sounded really cool, so I did some quick searches. For what it's worth, it seems that this is a pop theory but not based in evidence.
That is clearly a dinosaur, but almost certainly an avian dinosaur, which aren't particularly hard to find, either in Christian religious art or, for that matter, daily life in much of the world.
I'm 99% sure that's an ostrich. I do understand your confusion, however...ostriches are pretty dinosaur-like and I have no idea why she is sitting on one.
Three highly trained assistents to one of to he greatest artists who over lived, credited with contributing to major masterworks couldn't learn oilpainting? A common evening class subjest, nearly universally considered much easier then painting fresco.
Probably just an editing error but I find it interesting that, according to the text of the article, they were finished with the restoration before they ever started.
>The restoration of the Hall of Constantine began in March 2025 and was completed in December 2024.
Someone probably fat-fingered a number in one or more of those dates or swapped them.
or the most likely scenario, the pope has a time machine == confirmed.
It was already pretty likely, considering Pope Formosus was put on trial months after his death, and he was in attendance.
Maybe the famous Chronovisor by Father Ernetti?
https://archive.org/details/fatherernettisch0000kras
Probably suitably air-gapped so that none of us plebes can remote into it and spin for a random date to kick off a global reboot.
I wonder whether it uses a joystick, scrolling wheel, or a user-selectable date and whether the user can pick their spawn point. What is the date format? Gregorian calendar or earlier? Is the machine bright enough make date corrections based on where you want to go on that date if the location doesn't use a standard European calendar?
It would really suck to pick a date where you know something important was gonna happen and find out you rolled it all back to a different continent because you glitched the part where you were supposed to end up in Atlantis and found yourself treading water in the middle of the Atlantic because of a spelling error.
Too many questions here. The unknownable unknowns are a real drag.
The artwork was already there, so not sure 'discovered' is the right word. Does it make a difference now we know it was painted by Raphael himself?
It will make a difference, of course. But should it?
> The artwork was already there, so not sure 'discovered' is the right word.
"Discovered" is used exactly once in the article, in the sentence, "urther, the conservators discovered metal nails under some of these plaster frescoes, which they believe were likely inserted to hold in place more of the resin surface for oil painting." Seems to be exactly the right word where it is used.
It isn't used referring to the work itself, which obviously was not discovered and which the article doesn't suggest was.
> Does it make a difference now we know it was painted by Raphael himself?
It clearly makes a difference to understanding of the provenance of the piece and, from the other side, knowledge of the body of Raphael's work. Whether that's important to you will, of course, vary based on how important those issues are to you.
People decide what should matter. Thats why there are pop star worship museums where mass-produced guitars and shoes that were worn are on display.
Probably not, considering that many (possibly most) of the well known modern and contemporary painters have other people put the paint on the canvas for them.
Would you wear Jeffrey Dahmer's sweater?
As long as it's not the cursed one that made him do all that terrible writing
Hitler loved dogs. Should I get rid of mine?
The Last Supper was also a fresco painted with oils, IIRC. The painting quickly devolved and needed constant restoration.
The Last Supper by Leonardo was painted with tempera, a medium that uses egg-yolk.
Interesting to see a dinosaur in one of the paintings.
It's an ostrich, which is associated with Justice (the figure holding it). https://www.raulprisacariu.com/symbolism/symbolic-literacy-j...
There's a fuller view on the right here: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/42/Giulio_R...
Do you mean the dragon in the background? Fwiw dinosaur fossils have been found for thousands of years already, with theories being that the Cyclops was based on mammoth skulls and griffins on triceratops fossils.
The mammoth-cyclops/griffin-triceratops connection sounded really cool, so I did some quick searches. For what it's worth, it seems that this is a pop theory but not based in evidence.
The one I am referring to is in the first image, where the central figure has their right hand around the neck of what looks like a dinosaur.
That is clearly a dinosaur, but almost certainly an avian dinosaur, which aren't particularly hard to find, either in Christian religious art or, for that matter, daily life in much of the world.
I'm 99% sure that's an ostrich. I do understand your confusion, however...ostriches are pretty dinosaur-like and I have no idea why she is sitting on one.
> I'm 99% sure that's an ostrich
Ostriches are dinosaurs (in fact, the largest living dinosaurs.)
[flagged]
Three highly trained assistents to one of to he greatest artists who over lived, credited with contributing to major masterworks couldn't learn oilpainting? A common evening class subjest, nearly universally considered much easier then painting fresco.
"The technique used and planned by Raphael was truly experimental for the time, and has never been found in another other mural made with oil paint.”
From the article
Just sounds very circular. We attribute all of these to Raphael because the are no examples we have attributed to his colleges.