The Fire in the Borgo

This detail shows the frantic efforts of Roman citizens as they attempt to suppress the flames using water jars and basins. A muscular man perched on a wall reaches down to take a vessel from a woman, while another woman in the foreground reacts with alarm to the spreading disaster. The figures are rendered with the heroic, athletic anatomy and dynamic movement characteristic of the High Renaissance style.

The painting is part of a larger decorative program in the Vatican Stanze that sought to harmonize classical history and literature with Christian miracles under a Neoplatonic framework. The inclusion of figures mirroring Aeneas and Anchises (visible in the full work) links the survival of the Church to the Virgilian epic and the translation of ancient wisdom to the Papal seat.