Oil on wood 1503
< 15 x 5 in.
A side panel of an altarpiece used for private devotion.
It depicts Mary after the crucifixion, when she entered a period of repentance. She’s living a hermetic, almost ascetic existence. Mary’s rejecting not only worldly goods, but her own clothing.
It sold at auction last year
for $3 million.
For me, captivating.
Sometimes, my writing ideas come fromCBS SUNDAY MORNINGS. Last Sunday’s Divine art: Inside the Vatican’s Mosaic Studio, demonstrated how the Cupula Clementina of St. Peter’s Basilican is made of millions of (smashed) colored-glass tiles, 200 feet above the pews.
director of Vatican Mosaic Workshop
That made me wonder about St. Peter’s Basilica, which led to me to the High Renaissance (1490 – 1520) Italian artist, Raphael (1483 – 1520), born Raffaello Sanzio.
Italian artist Pietro Perugino, with whom Raphael began apprenticing at 8-years old stated, “. . . no other pupil of genius has ever absorbed so much of his master’s teaching as Raphael did.”
Raphael is described as ‘master, fully trained’ by the end of 1500. He was 17-years old. Raphael embodied the ideal of sprezzatura -the appearance of nonchalant effortlessness in the creative process. In 1508, age 25, Raphael moved to Rome, where he lived for the rest of his life. He was invited by the new pope, Julius II (served 1503-1513), “a great ‘builder pope, elected on a mandate of reform. He believed beauty could save the world.” -Elizabeth Lev, art historian
oil on wood, 43 × 32 in
Immediately, Raphael was commissioned to fresco what was intended to become the Pope’s private library at The Vatican Palace, the official residence of the pope. This was a much larger and more important commission than any he had received before; he had only painted one altarpiece in Florence.
Several other artists and their teams were already at work in different rooms. In the course of painting, Raphael was clearly influenced by Michelangelo’s Sistine Chapel ceiling. Raphael painted four rooms, called ‘Stanze’ or, now, ‘Raphael Rooms.’
Stanza della Segnatura (Room of the Signatura)
Theme of ‘wisdom’
Celebrates both Poetry and Law
Sala di Costantino (Hall of Constantine)
Stanza di Eliodoro (Room of Heliodorus)
Stanza dell’Incendio del Borgo (Room of the Fire in the Borgo)
They made a major impact on Italian art and are regarded as Raphael’s greatest masterpieces.
Raphael was already much in demand even at this early stage in his career. He was made a Groom of the Chamber of the Pope, which gave him status at court and an additional income, He was also knighted Papal Order of the Golden Spur.1
The most striking influence in Raphael’s work during these years is Leonardo da Vinci, who returned to the city from 1500 to 1506: Raphael’s figures begin to take more dynamic and complex positions. In later works painted by Raphael’s workshop, the drawings are often painfully more attractive than the paintings. yikes. Most Raphael drawings are precise—even initial sketches with naked outline figures are carefully drawn. Raphael was one of the finest draftsmen in the history of Western art and used drawings extensively to plan his compositions. When he had a final drawing, he made a scaled-up full-size sketch on canvas, called an underdrawing, which was then pricked with a pin and sprinkled with a bag of soot to leave dotted lines on the canvas as a guide.
“Raphael worked well with others. He ran a large and complex workshop comprised of skilled collaborators who enabled him to realized numerous projects simultaneously. He was known to be generous and kind, willing to share his knowledge with the others.” -Dr. Heather Graham2
In his final years, he was one of the first artists to use female models for preparatory drawings. Art historian Bernard Berenson, regarded as the pre-eminent authority on Renaissance art called Raphael the “most famous and most loved” master of the High Renaissance.3 He died of a fever on Good Friday, April 6, 1520. He was buried in the Pantheon in Rome.
“Burning the candle at both ends, he burned himself out.”
– Elizabeth Lev, art historian
1 Order of the Golden Spur is conferred on those who have had distinguished
service in propagating the Catholic faith or who have contributed to the
glory of the Church, either by feat of arms, by writings, or by other
illustrious acts.
2Associate Professor of Art History at California State University, Long
Beach.
3 Berenson, Bernard. Italian Painters of the renaissance, Vol 2 Florentine and
Central Italian Schools, Phaidon 1952 (refs to 1968 ed), p. 94
