Battle of Ostia

Raphael 1483-1520, The Battle of Ostia, 1514.

• 100% Silk
• Hand Rolled
• Designed and Printed in Britain
• 42cm x 42cm

This pocket square features The Battle of Ostia (Battaglia di Ostia), a painting by the workshop of the Italian renaissance artist Raphael. The painting was part of his commission to decorate the rooms now known as the Stanze di Raffaello, in the Apostolic Palace in the Vatican. It can be found in the room that was named after The Fire in the Borgo, the Stanza dell'incendio del Borgo, and was inspired by a naval battle fought in 849 between the Saracens and a Christian League of Papal, Neapolitan and Gaetan ships.

In the painting Pope Leo IV, with the features of Pope Leo X, can be seen giving thanks after the opposing ships were destroyed by a storm. Details in the border of the pocket square are taken from a fresco by Raphael; The Expulsion of Heliodorus from the Temple.