The Fire in the Borgo

The Fire in the Borgo depicts a miraculous event from 847 CE when Pope Leo IV extinguished a fire in Rome's Borgo district by making the sign of the cross. Raphael designed this fresco around 1514 for the Stanza dell'Incendio, though assistants executed much of the painting.

The composition shows dramatic figures fleeing flames in the foreground while the Pope calmly blesses from the Vatican loggia in the background. A young man carries his elderly father on his back, echoing Aeneas and Anchises from Virgil's Aeneid. The muscular figures reflect Michelangelo's influence on Raphael's later style. The fresco remains in the Vatican Museums.