Vogel von Vogelstein was first and foremost known as a portrait painter: a collection of some 700 portrait sketches in the Kupferstich Kabinett in Dresden are testimony to his fine skills. Amongst his more famous sitters were fellow artists Canova, Cornelius, Overbeck, Vent, Schnorr von Carolsfeld and Friedrich, as well as the King of Saxony and Pope Pius VII. After five years in Russia he went to Italy in 1813. Following an appointment in 1820 as Professor at the Fine Arts Academy in Dresden, Vogel von Vogelstein was appointed painter to the court in 1824 and elevated to nobility in 1831, earning the title of 'Von Vogelstein'. In the Vatican, Raphael's stanza of Heliodorus is a series of frescoes which take their name as a whole from this work in particular. The other two frescoes are The Liberation of St Peter from the Prison, The Miracle at the Mass of Bolsena and The Repulsion of Attila the Hun. They were painted during the pontificate of Julius II when he was trying to push back invaders of the Papal State. The episode of Heliodorus comes from the apocryphal book of Macobedes and depicts the event when Heliodorus attempts to steal the treasure of the Temple of Jerusalem, whereupon an Angelic figure on horseback appears in his pursuit. Julius II and the Holy See were in danger; divine intervention was called for the sake of the Church and it was claimed that treasure of the temple was for the benefit of the poor, widows and children. The two figures depicted by Vogel follow the scourge of the Angelic figure. The painting of the the pursuers, by Raphael in 1515 and subsequently by Vogel in 1816, was to show off the artists's ability in foreshortening.
The Philadelphia Academy of Art