I heard an interview with an Italian official regarding removing the overpaint to restore Rafael’s frescoes. The reason why it is not done was given, to paraphrase, that ‘Vasari is not Rafael, but Vasari is Vasari!’ . Is there it true that Vasari painted over Rafael’s work, and if it is, which fresco was referred to ?
The short answer is no, there’s no evidence to suggest that Vasari had ever overpainted any of Raphael’s frescos; in fact, from an art historical perspective, it would be unimaginable for him to have ever done so.
From what I can piece together there may have been some confusion over the recent 2017 discovery in the Room of Constantine, the largest of the four rooms in the papal residence that Raphael had been commissioned to decorate. Raphael died before the completion of the room illustrating the rise of Christianity, so the decoration was entrusted to his workshop.
This is where Vasari comes in. From his writings we knew that Raphael had painted two figures in the Room of Constantine and that they were of superior quality to the rest. I say we ‘knew’, but we didn’t, because Vasari was fond of coming up with fanciful stories and had a nonchalant attitude towards historical fact.
Turns out that on this occasion, Vasari was relating a true story, or at least that’s what the Vatican Museums are suggesting. The brushwork as well as the technique are representative of Raphael’s work and indicate that he was experimenting with a new oil-painting method. The attribution of these figures only became apparent after the wall had been cleaned and centuries-worth of restoration had been removed.