Detail from The Expulsion of Heliodorus from the Temple, a fresco designed and painted by Raphael (Raffaello Sanzio da Urbino)

Detail from The Expulsion of Heliodorus from the Temple, a fresco designed and painted by Raphael (Raffaello Sanzio da Urbino)

Stuart Robertson / Alamy Stock Photo

Image ID: DK6808

This image shows a detail from The Expulsion of Heliodorus from the Temple, a fresco designed and painted by Raphael (Raffaello Sanzio da Urbino) in the Apostolic Palace, Vatican City. The Expulsion of Heliodorus from the Temple is a fresco of the Italian renaissance painter Raphael. It was painted between 1511 and 1512 as part of Raphael's commission to decorate with frescoes the rooms that are now known as the Stanze di Raffaello, in the Apostolic Palace in the Vatican. It is located in the room that takes its name from it, the Stanza di Eliodoro. The Expulsion of Heliodorus from the Temple illustrates the biblical episode from 2 Maccabees (3:21-28). Heliodorus is ordered by Seleucus IV Philopator, the king of Syria, to seize the treasure preserved in the Temple in Jerusalem. Answering the prayers of the high priest Onias, God sends a horseman assisted by two youths to drive Heliodorus out. At the left, Raphael's patron, Julius II witnesses the scene from his litter.

Location: Room of Heliodorus, Apostolic Palace, Vatican City