EMME Interactive specializes in CD‐ROMs about art and culture, focusing particularly on museum collection. Raphael: An Artist for the Vatican is one of three titles based on the Vatican Museums. The other titles include The Sistine Chapel and The Vatican: The Painting Gallery. Together, these discs let the armchair traveler experience most of the major attractions of the Vatican Museums without leaving home and jostling the crowds. The titles are also very complementary.
Raphael painted the papal apartments about the same time that Michelangelo worked on the ceiling of the Sistine chapel and a few years after Columbus discovered America. It’s not surprising, then, that his work exhibits Michelangelo’s influence. No longer used as papal apartments, these rooms, called the Stanze di Raffaello, comprise a major attraction of any visit to the Vatican Museums.
After a brief video introduction, the user finds him or herself in the room called Fire in the Borgo, named after its major fresco. This is the first room a visitor would enter on a visit to the museum, not the first one painted. The user interface consists of a 3‐D reconstruction of the stanze. One can turn left or right to view all four walls or look up to the ceiling. Clicking on one of the frescoes will center it on the screen and offer a menu with six options: What there is to know, Figures, The Work and religion, Those 30 years of history, Life of Raphael, and The Protagonists.
The first three options change content, depending on the fresco being examined. The last three offer the same content regardless of which room one views. “What there is to know” provides the basic facts and a brief background about the paintings. “Work and religion” discusses the relationships between political events and theological interpretations and their relevance to the painting. “Figures” lets the visitor identify characters in the painting to obtain more information or to move around the fresco to enlarge portions for better viewing. Many of the images only occupy a quarter of the screen. Sometimes, it would be preferable to have a larger picture, such as in the Logge, rather than magnifying each panel
“Those 30 years of history” offers three multimedia essays that provide fuller background information on the period which produced the art. It includes “cultural and religious horizon at the time of Julius II (1508‐1511),” “politics and religion at the time of Julius II and Leo X (1514‐1517),” and “Christian Rome (1520‐1524).” However, the viewer does not have any control over the presentation. The essays all include video segments that seem to run in endless loops and slow down the display of the text. At other times, when the text scrolls at its normal pace, slide shows may run in the windows on either side of the text. One often has to decide whether to look at the slides or read the text. It is likely that most viewers will lose patience with these essays before completing any of them.
Entertaining background music plays almost constantly in the Windows 95 version of this title. But, because of the multimedia intensity, many of the transitions will be slow. It would be nice to be able to turn the sound off to speed the transitions. Also, some of the video sequences end abruptly with truncated audio.
A bell icon appears to the left of the viewing area. When it flashes, one can go to the next room. This plays a video sequence that simulates a tourist leaving one room and entering another. As the navigation tools only offer the ability to look at the walls and ceiling, the only opportunity to enjoy the cosmatesque floors is during the transition sequences.
The navigation bar at the bottom of the screen lets visitors return to the previous navigation level or go to the general menu (the 3‐D reconstruction of the rooms). A film option displays the first frame of the video sequences on the disc. Clicking on one of the frames will play that sequence. Some of the sequences have audio; others don’t, as they serve as overview or supplementary material to the text in other parts of the program.
The index button provides a comprehensive outline and list of topics covered by the disc; so one can go quickly to a desired topic or painting. Someone interested in the chapel of Nicholas V or the Logge of Raphael will find this the quickest avenue. The help button offers the only documentation for the disc. It consists of a couple of graphic screens that illustrate the features of the user interface and briefly explains how to use them. The print button allows users to print the text of any segment.
The Stanze di Raffaello, along with the Sistine Chapel are two highlights of any visit to the Vatican Museums. Most visitors can only afford to spend a few minutes at each attraction ‐ hardly enough time to understand and appreciate these treasures. While this disc does not produce the awe of seeing the frescoes in person, it comes pretty close. It does, however, offer the virtual visitor an experience that the tourist cannot enjoy ‐ viewing all the paintings at leisure without jostling from the crowds. It allows studying the paintings in detail, along with their historical, political, and theological backgrounds. It also permits visiting rooms that are sometimes closed to visitors or that are otherwise inaccessible, such as the Stanza della Segnatura (Room of the Apostolic Signature) which contains the famous fresco of the School of Athens currently being restored.
Raphael: An Artist for the Vatican is a finely crafted disc that will present many hours of enjoyment and learning. It comes in English, French, Italian, Spanish, and German editions. It provides an excellent preparation for a visit to the Vatican or a good souvenir. Art and theology students can use it to good advantage also. At $29.95, this disc is a steal. Together with EMME Interactive’s other CD‐ROMs, The Sistine Chapel and The Vatican: The Painting Gallery, the armchair traveler can experience a virtual visit to the major attractions of the Vatican Museums.
