The Coronation of Charlemagne

{{Short description|1516–1517 painting by Raphael}}

{{Infobox Artwork

| image_file=Raphael - Coronation of Charlemagne.jpg

| title=The Coronation of Charlemagne

| artist=Workshop of Raphael

| year=1516–1517

| type=Fresco

| dimensions={{convert|670|cm|in|abbr=on}} wide

| city=Vatican City

| museum=Apostolic Palace, Vatican Museums

}}

The Coronation of Charlemagne is a painting by the workshop of the Italian Renaissance artist Raphael. Though it is believed that Raphael did make the designs for the composition, the fresco was probably painted by Gianfrancesco Penni.{{cite book|last=Joannides|first=Paul|title=The Drawings of Raphael: With a Complete Catalogue|year=1992|publisher=University of California Press|location=Berkeley, CA|isbn=0-520-05087-8|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MsV1ZASkP0kC&q=The+Drawings+of+Raphael:+With+a+Complete+Catalogue}} The painting was part of Raphael's commission to decorate the rooms that are now known as the Stanze di Raffaello, in the Apostolic Palace in the Vatican.{{cite book|last=Müntz|first=Eugène|title=Raphael: His Life, Works, and Times|year=1888|publisher=A.C. Armstrong and Son|location=New York|url=https://archive.org/details/raphaelhislifew00armsgoog|quote=Raphael: his life, works and times.}} It is located in the room that was named after The Fire in the Borgo, the Stanza dell'incendio del Borgo.

The painting shows how Charlemagne was crowned Imperator Romanorum by Pope Leo III (pontiff from 795 to 816) on Christmas Evening, 800. Behind Charlemagne, a child page holds the royal crown that he just took off to receive the imperial one.

It is quite likely that the fresco refers to the Concordat of Bologna, negotiated between the Holy See and the kingdom of France in 1515, since Leo III is in fact a portrait of Leo X and Charlemagne a portrait of Francis I.{{cite book|last=Crowe|first=J.A.|title=Raphael: His Life and Works. With Particular Reference to Recently Discovered Records, and an Exhaustive Study of Extant Drawings and Pictures Volume 2 (1882-85)|year=2009|publisher=Cornell University Library|location=Ithaca, NY|isbn=978-1-112-00369-1|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-NZAAAAAYAAJ&dq=the+coronation+of+charlemagne+raphael&pg=PA361}} According to Giorgio Vasari, the child page holding the royal crown is a portrait of the infant Ippolito de' Medici.