The Week - UK (2021-02-06)

34 ARTS

Art

HaditnotbeenforCovid-

19,the 50 0thanniversary

ofRaphael’sdeathwould

havebeencommemorated

inremarkablestyle,said

MichaelCollinsinThe

IrishTimes.Alas,the

pandemicscupperedItaly’s

plansforayear-long

celebration,whilein

Londonahuge

retrospectiveatthe

NationalGalleryhasbeen

pushedbackto 2022.

Lookingonthebrightside,

itgivesartloversmuchto

lookforwardto,whenthis

crisisisfinallyover.Along

withLeonardo,whowas

31 yearsolderthanhim,

andhisbitterrival

Michelangelo,whowas

nearerhisownage,

RaffaelloSanziodaUrbino

(1483-1520) was “one of

themostcelebrated artists ofthe ItalianRenaissance”.Known to

hiscontemporaries as“thedivine Raphael”,he wasasublime

draughtsmanand painter.Hisdistinctivevisualstyle–gentle,

fluidand infusedwithcompassionfor its subjects–has influenced

generationsofartistsfromPontormotoReynolds,and his

observationsofprincipallyfemale modelshavesetabenchmark

fordepictionsof the humanform.

Muchofwhatwe know aboutRaphael’srelativelyshortlife(he

diedwhenhewas 37)comescourtesyofGiorgioVasari,the 1 6th

century artistandhistorianwhowrotethe landmarkbookLives

of the MostExcellentPainters,Sculptorsand Architects.And

someofwhathetellsusisdubious atbest, said AlastairSookein

TheDailyTelegraph. Vasariwouldhaveusbelievethat theartist

wasacompulsivewomaniserwhoseuntimelydeath wastheresult

of “toomuch sex”.Thetruth“isprobablymoreprosaic”: itis

more likelythatRaphaelexpiredfrom“exhaustion”.Small

wonder:in the12yearsfollowingbeingsummonedfromFlorence

to RomebyPopeJuliusIIin 1508,Raphael hadworked almost

non-stopongrandprojects

fortheChurch.Oneofthe

mostspectacularwasaset

ofpreparatorydrawings–

knownascartoons–fora

seriesof“vast”tapestries

orderedbyJulius’s

successor,LeoX,who

wantedaworkofartfor

thewallsoftheSistine

Chapeltorival

Michelangelo’sonthe

ceiling.Depictingscenes

fromtheNewTestament,

thecartoonsare

“monumental”inscale:

eachmadeupofaround

200 piecesofpaper,they

areuptofivemetreslong

andthree-and-a-half

metrestall.Thetapestries

remainintheVatican,but

thesevensurviving

cartoonswereacquiredby

Charles IIandshippedto

Britainin the17thcentury.Then,in 1865 ,theseastonishingly

importantpieces were loanedby QueenVictoriato theV&A, and

hunginapoorlylitgallery, wheretheyhave remainedeversince–

“ifnot underappreciated,then insufficientlyloved”.

Butallthatischanging,saidRachelCampbell-Johnstonin The

Times.Thegallery’slightingisbeingimproved aspartofa

refurbishment,and tocelebratetheanniversary,themuseumhas

alsocreated microscopicallyprecise digitalimages ofthecartoons,

whichallowustoexamin ethem inunprecedenteddetail.Usinga

viewer ontheV&Awebsite,you can “zoomincloser and closer”

on thepaintingsuntilyoucansee,in incredible focus,everymark

–“everyfeather strokeof thecranesthatwaitgreedily forthe

apostlestohaulin theirmiraculousdraught offishes;everycarved

adornmentofthetemplepillars”thatform thebackdroptoJesus

healingthelame.Useyourimaginationand“you canalmosthear

thesoundoftheartist’scharcoalas itsweepsacross paper”.It

maynot havethesameimpactasseeingtheseworksin real life,

butit willleaveyouinno doubt asto Raphael’sgenius.

Artist of theweek: Raphael’s sublime masterpieces

Photographer who created enduring images of postwar Britain

Grace Robertson, who has died aged 90,

was hailed in late life asa“forgotten star

of the golden age of photojournalism”,

said The Daily Telegraph. In the 1950s,

she had documented the “drab routine

of postwar life” with an unflinching gaze,

and created some of the most enduring

images of that period. Born in 1930, she’d

inherited an interest in photography from

her father, Fyfe Robertson, who worked at

Picture Post. And when she was in her late

teens and stuck at home, caring for her

seriously ill mother, she persuaded him

to buy herasecond-hand Leica 35mm

camera. She improvisedadark room

in the guest bathroom, and–despite her

mother’s urging that she pursue more

“ladylike” interests–she started venturing out onto the streets, to

take pictures of ordinary women going about their daily lives in

that grey 1950s world. She even submitted some to Picture Post

itself, under the pseudonym “Dick Muir”; they were returned, but

with the message: “Persevere, young man.”

Robertson’s work was well suited toamagazine known for its

“celebration of working-class culture and of the welfare state”,

said Amanda Hopkinson in The Guardian.

And her “quiet determination” eventually

paid off. Although she never made it onto

the staff, she becamea“respected

member of the Picture Post team” as a

freelancer. Some of her most memorable

images includeMother’s Day Off,aseries

showingagroup of Battersea “charladies”

on acharabanc trip to Margate in 1954;

andShearing Time in Snowdonia,

evocative photographs of shepherds

gathering their flocks. As with all her work,

they were unsentimental, but they

depicted their subjects with rare empathy.

Her photographic career, however,

proved short-lived: Picture Post folded in

1957, and soon after, she retrained as a

teacher. It was not until the 1980s that her work was

rediscovered. Articulate, and striking-looking, she started

appearing in the media, and gave lectures on the academic

circuit. She was no nostalgic, but she did lament the

sensationalism of much contemporary photojournalism, and a

lost spirit of gentleness. “Gentle pictures are probably dead as a

dodo today,” she said, in 2010, “but back then it was different.”

Conga Line, London Women’s Pub Outing 1956

TheMiraculousDraughtofFishes:oneofRaphael’scelebratedcartoons

THE WEEK6February 2021

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ICTORIA AND ALBERT MUSEUM, LONDON. COURTESY ROYAL COLLECTION TRUST/HER MAJESTY QUEEN ELIZABETH II 2021