Lecture 21: The High Renaissance—Raphael

The High Renaissance—Raphael ..................................................

Lecture 21

Raphael was trained in fresco painting, as well as in oil and tempera,

trained in large part by a painter named Perugino, who was very

accomplished and who worked in Rome on the early Vatican frescoes

in the lower part of the Sistine Chapel.

W

e again will study a single artist in this lecture—Raphael.

Celebrating the variety of Raphael’s work, we will look at

examples of his frescoes and portraiture, and subjects ranging

from the Madonna to Roman mythology. We also will look at the artist’s

compositional innovations of movement and stasis, and the expressive

contours of his ¿ gures.

Raphael (1483–1520) was born in Urbino, the son of a minor painter named

Giovanni Sanzio. He was a youthful prodigy with a pleasing personality. He

trained in fresco, oil, and tempera painting, and the science of perspective.

His reputation, like Botticelli’s, was virtually unassailable in the 19th century,

when his work was considered the apogee of good taste in art. Although

Raphael’s reputation has had ups and downs, the variety of his achievement

remains impressive.

Our ¿ rst example is the Sistine Madonna (c. 1513). The Sistine Madonna

was painted for the Church of S. Sixtus in Piacenza, which was supported

by Pope Julius II. (The adjective “Sistine” derives from the name Sixtus.)

St. Sixtus was an early Christian pope who was the patron saint of the Della

Rovere family, and since Pope Julius II was a Della Rovere, in this painting,

St. Sixtus has the features of Julius II. Although Raphael is famous for his

paintings of Madonnas, this example is unique. This Madonna and Child stand

on clouds rather than appearing seated in a chair or kneeling in a landscape.

She is À anked by St. Sixtus and St. Barbara and revealed by curtains that

have been drawn back. The curtains are an illusion, but they are painted as

if they were supported by a rod and drawn back to reveal a painting or a

vision. The work is nearly 9 feet tall, singular in its monumentality among

Raphael’s images of the Madonna.