Pope Julius II orders the works of Vatican and Saint-Peter basilica

Pope Julius II Orders the Works of the Vatican from 1827 by Horace Vernet at the Louvre depicts the Renaissance pope who commissioned Raphael to decorate the Stanze and Michelangelo to paint the Sistine Chapel ceiling — the most consequential artistic patronage decisions in the history of European painting. Vernet, the most commercially successful French painter of his era, specialized in military and historical subjects, and this unusual foray into Renaissance history reflects his versatility and his understanding of the French public's appetite for historically significant spectacle. The Director of the French Academy in Rome from 1828, Vernet would have been acutely aware of the artistic tradition that Julius II had created, working in the very city where Raphael and Michelangelo had executed their commissions. His polished handling and documentary accuracy, applied here to Renaissance rather than Napoleonic history, demonstrate the range of subjects his fluid technical approach could encompass. The Louvre holds this alongside Vernet's military paintings.

The historical scene is rendered with careful attention to period detail. Vernet's polished handling creates a convincing scene of papal patronage.