Charlotte Nichols

The activities of Raphael’s circle in Naples will be considered within the context of the city’s extraordinarily aspirational patronage, cosmopolitan eclecticism, and architectural innovation. Giuliano da Sangallo and Fra Giovanni Giocondo, his colleagues at the fabbrica of Saint Peter under Pope Leo X, had studiously drawn antiquities in the Bay region during the late quattrocento while also receiving prestigious commissions from royal and aristocratic patrons. Giulio Romano, Baldassare Peruzzi, and Polidoro da Caravaggio visited between ca. 1518 and 1528 as the former Aragonese capital transitioned to a Spanish viceroyalty, thus witnessing first-hand the shifting dynamics of politics and art. This paper addresses the impact of ancient and contemporary building in the southern metropolis on Raphael’s associates.