Munsey's Magazine, December 1907

Munsey's Magazine, December 1907. F. Marion Crawford's essay "The Treasures of the Vatican" surveys the collections within St. Peter's Basilica and the Vatican, including the Vatican Museum, Gallery, and Library. Crawford focuses on specific objects rarely displayed to the public: the Cross of Constantine, a fourteenth-century Byzantine reliquary in wrought gold; the Cross of Justin II (565-578), inscribed with Latin verses; a silver bust of St. Luke the Evangelist; and a thirteenth-century silver-gilt chalice attributed to Brother Peter John of Reate. The essay also examines Cardinal Bibbiena's Renaissance bath-room (built 1516) within the Vatican, decorated with frescoes of the Venus cycle by or under the direction of Raphael, depicting scenes such as Venus rising from the sea and her encounters with Adonis and Cupid. Crawford concludes with a note on a classical statue of Juno nursing an infant that became connected to the legend of Pope Joan.