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About This Work
Residents of the Borgo district struggle to save their lives and property as a fire rages, with a notable group on the left mimicking Aeneas carrying his father Anchises from Troy. In the background, Pope Leo IV appears on the loggia of Old St. Peter's Basilica, making the sign of the cross to quench the flames. The scene is framed by elaborate Renaissance architecture and a vaulted ceiling painted by Perugino featuring medallions of the Holy Trinity.
Commissioned by Pope Leo X, the work exemplifies the High Renaissance synthesis of classical literature and Christian history, using the Virgilian motif of 'Pietas' to bolster the moral authority of the Papacy. It reflects the intellectual program of the Vatican Stanze, where humanism, classical philosophy, and divine revelation were viewed as a unified whole.