Vatican Museums-6 (120)

The scene shows soldiers struggling with prisoners on a shoreline while a naval battle rages in the background near a fortified coastal castle. The figures are rendered with heavy, muscular proportions and dynamic poses characteristic of Raphael's later Roman period. In the vaulting above, decorative grotesque patterns and circular medallions containing religious scenes frame the central composition.

Commissioned by the Medici Pope Leo X, this work forms part of a series intended to celebrate the papacy through historical parallels; Leo X was a central figure in the Neoplatonic revival and a former student of Marsilio Ficino.