Sixtus IV Appointing Platina as Prefect of the Vatican Library [SEP] creator
Sixtus IV Appointing Platina as Prefect of the Vatican Library
Sixtus IV Appointing Platina as Prefect of the Vatican Library is a fresco transferred to canvas by the Italian Renaissance artist Melozzo da Forlì, once decorating the Vatican Library, now housed in the Pinacoteca Vaticana in Rome.
The fresco was executed in 1477 as the central scene of the decoration of the Vatican Library, founded by Sixtus IV two years before, including works by Antoniazzo Romano and the brothers Davide and Domenico Ghirlandaio.
The scene shows the Pope, seen slightly
representing "Sixtus IV Appointing Platina as Librarian of the Vatican Library". In the same year Girolamo Riario built his palace in Rome, now known as Palazzo Altemps, with designs by Melozzo. In 1478 he was one of the original members of the Academy of St Luke, founded by Sixtus IV to unite the chief painters working in the city.
In about 1472-74, Melozzo was commissioned by Pietro Riario to paint the vault of the apse in the basilica dei Santi Apostoli in Rome, his subject being the