Lecture 21: The High Renaissance—Raphael
Note the disruption of pictorial and emotional balance. Scholars once said
that the period following Raphael’s death witnessed the dissolution of
Renaissance artistic style. Now, however, we recognize that this crumbling
of the Renaissance pictorial order began with Raphael. The hallmarks of
Renaissance painting were replaced with a style called Mannerism, which
dominated the 16th century. The social order itself was crumbling—the
Protestant Reformation had begun, and the French invasions of Italy would
soon lead to the invasion of Emperor Charles V’s mercenary armies and the
Sack of Rome.Our next example is Baldassare Castiglione (c. 1514–1515). This portrait
portrays a valiant soldier who was also the author of The Book of the Courtier
and a friend of Raphael. This painting emulates the Mona Lisa in pose, but
Raphael eliminated the details of the setting, including the chair, the loggia,
and the background landscape. The ¿ gure is fuller than Leonardo’s and has
an air of self-con¿ dence. The palette is a balance of grays and blacks, of
À esh tones and whites, against a luminous background of gray mingled with
brown-beige tones. The ¿ gure, with its superbly drawn contour, is one of the
touchstones of great portraiture. Later, Rubens would copy it and Rembrandt
would borrow from it.Raphael recreated not just an appearance but a complete personality.
Castiglione wrote The Courtier, a book that provided entry into a group of
the most cultured people in the Italy of Raphael’s day, those who lived at or
visited the court at Urbino, the small principality near the Adriatic. During
conversations, these intellectuals, presided over by the duchess of Urbino,
considered both light and contentious topics, with each monologue preceded
by “he smiled and said” or “she laughed and replied”—serious debates
conducted in a civilized manner. Such questions as whether one should
serve or leave an evil master, or whether the most beautiful music is vocal
or instrumental, or the advantages of speaking several languages, concerned
these cultivated persons and the gentleman who still lives through the skill of
Raphael’s brush. Ŷ