Raphael
E >> Estelle M. Hurll >> Raphael[Illustration: RAPHAEL SANZIO D' URBINO (BY HIMSELF)
_Uffizi Gallery, Florence_]
Masterpieces of Art
RAPHAEL
A COLLECTION OF FIFTEEN PICTURES
AND A PORTRAIT OF THE PAINTER
WITH INTRODUCTION AND
INTERPRETATION
_EDITED BY_
ESTELLE M. HURLL
BOSTON AND NEW YORK
HOUGHTON MIFFLIN COMPANY
The Riverside Press Cambridge
Copyright, 1899, BY HOUGHTON, MIFFLIN & CO
* * * * *
PREFACE
The object of this collection of prints is to introduce the student to
Raphael through the pictures which appeal directly to the imagination
with some story interest. With this characteristic as the leading
principle of choice, the variety of subjects is perhaps as wide as the
conditions admit. No attempt is made to represent all the sides of the
painter's art; his portraits are ignored and his Madonnas inadequately
represented, in order to give place to pictures which awaken as many
points of interest as possible. Within these narrow limits Raphael, as
an illustrator and a composer, is even in these few pictures clearly
represented.
Had choice been limited to pictures painted throughout by Raphael
himself, the value of the collection would have been seriously
affected, as some of the master's most interesting works were handed
over to his pupils for execution. Our list, however, contains only
such works as are at this date reckoned indisputably to be from
Raphael's own designs.
The text has only the modest aim of making the pictures intelligible.
Critical explanations are beyond its scope, and historical data are
for the most part relegated to the accompanying tables. The
Introduction is intended for teachers, and contains suggestions for a
comparative study of the pictures which may be carried out at
discretion.
All the reproductions in this book are from photographs made directly
from the original paintings. In order to get the best results a
careful comparison was made of the work of leading photographers. The
photographer of each picture is mentioned in the Table of Contents.
ESTELLE M. HURLL.
NEW BEDFORD, MASS.
June, 1899.
* * * * *
CONTENTS AND LIST OF PICTURES
PORTRAIT OF RAPHAEL. PAINTED BY HIMSELF. _Frontispiece._
FROM PHOTOGRAPH BY FRATELLI ALINARI.
INTRODUCTION
I. ON RAPHAEL'S CHARACTER AS AN ARTIST
II. ON BOOKS OF REFERENCE
III. HISTORICAL DIRECTORY OF THE PICTURES
IV. COLLATERAL READING FROM LITERATURE
V. OUTLINE TABLE OF THE PRINCIPAL EVENTS IN RAPHAEL'S LIFE
VI. RAPHAEL'S CONTEMPORARIES
I. THE MADONNA OF THE CHAIR
PICTURE FROM PHOTOGRAPH BY FRATELLI ALINARI
II. ABRAHAM AND THE THREE ANGELS
PICTURE FROM CARBON PRINT BY BRAUN, CLEMENT & CO.
III. THE MIRACULOUS DRAUGHT OF FISHES
PICTURE FROM PHOTOGRAPH BY THURSTON THOMPSON
IV. THE SACRIFICE AT LYSTRA
PICTURE FROM PHOTOGRAPH BY THURSTON THOMPSON
V. HELIODORUS DRIVEN FROM THE TEMPLE
PICTURE FROM PHOTOGRAPH BY FRATELLI ALINARI
VI. THE LIBERATION OF PETER
PICTURE FROM PHOTOGRAPH BY FRATRELLI ALINARI
VII. THE HOLY FAMILY OF FRANCIS I.
PICTURE FROM CARBON PRINT BY BRAUN, CLEMENT & CO.
VII. ST. CATHERINE OF ALEXANDRIA
PICTURE FROM PHOTOGRAPH BY FRANZ HANFSTAENGL
IX. ST. CECILIA
PICTURE FROM PHOTOGRAPH BY FRATELLI ALINARI
X. THE TRANSFIGURATION
PICTURE FROM PHOTOGRAPH BY FRATELLI ALINARI
XI. PARNASSUS
PICTURE FROM PHOTOGRAPH BY FRATELLI ALINARI
XII. SOCRATES AND ALCIBIADES
PICTURE FROM PHOTOGRAPH BY GIACOMO BROGI
XIII. THE FLIGHT OF AENEAS
PICTURE FROM PHOTOGRAPH BY FRATELLI ALINARI
XIV. ST. MICHAEL SLAYING THE DRAGON
PICTURE FROM CARBON PRINT BY BRAUN, CLEMENT & CO
XV. THE SISTINE MADONNA
PICTURE FROM PHOTOGRAPH BY FRANZ HANFSTAENGL
XVI. PORTRAIT OF RAPHAEL (_See Frontispiece_)
PRONOUNCING VOCABULARY OF PROPER NAMES AND FOREIGN WORDS
* * * * *
INTRODUCTION
I. ON RAPHAEL'S CHARACTER AS AN ARTIST.
No one of the old Italian masters has taken such a firm hold upon the
popular imagination as Raphael. Other artists wax and wane in public
favor as they are praised by one generation of critics or disparaged
by the next; but Raphael's name continues to stand in public
estimation as that of the favorite painter in Christendom. The passing
centuries do not dim his fame, though he is subjected to severe
criticism; and he continues, as he began, the first love of the
people.
The subjects of his pictures are nearly all of a cheerful nature. He
exercised his skill for the most part on scenes which were agreeable
to contemplate. Pain and ugliness were strangers to his art; he was
preeminently the artist of joy. This is to be referred not only to his
pleasure-loving nature, but to the great influence upon him of the
rediscovery of Greek art in his day, an art which dealt distinctively
with objects of delight.
Moreover Raphael is compassionate towards mind as well as heart; he
requires of us neither too strenuous feeling nor too much thinking. As
his subjects do not overtax the sympathies with harrowing emotions,
neither does his art overtax the understanding with complicated
effects. His pictures are apparently so simple that they demand no
great intellectual effort and no technical education to enjoy them.
He does all the work for us, and his art is too perfect to astonish.
It was not his way to show what difficult things he could do, but he
made it appear that great art is the easiest thing in the world. This
ease was, however, the result of a splendid mastery of his art. Thus
he arranges the fifty-two figures in the School of Athens, or the
three figures of the Madonna of the Chair, so simply and unobtrusively
that we might imagine such feats were an every-day affair. Yet in both
cases he solves most difficult problems of composition with a success
scarcely paralleled in the history of art.
Even the Master himself seldom achieved the same kind of success
twice. His Parnassus lacks the variety of the School of Athens, though
the single figures have a similar grace, and the Incendio del Borgo or
Conflagration in the Borgo, with groups equal in beauty to any in the
other two frescoes, has not the unity of either. Again, while the
Parnassus and the Liberation of Peter show a masterly adaptation to
extremely awkward spaces, the Transfiguration fails to solve a much
easier problem of composition.
Preferring by an instinct such as the Greek artist possessed, the
statuesque effects of repose to the portrayal of action, Raphael
showed himself capable of both. The Hellenic calm of Parnassus is not
more impressive than the splendid charge of the avenging spirits upon
Heliodorus; the visionary idealism of the angel-led Peter is matched
by the vigorous realism of Peter called from his fishing to the
apostleship; the brooding quiet of maternity expressed in the Madonna
of the Chair has a perfect complement in the alert activity of the
swiftly moving Sistine Madonna.
Great as was Raphael's achievement in many directions, he is
remembered above all else as a painter of Madonnas. Here was the
subject best expressing the individuality of his genius. From the
beginning to the end of his career the sweet mystery of motherhood
never ceased to fascinate him. Again and again he sounded the depths
of maternal experience, always making some new discovery.
The Madonna of the Chair emphasizes most prominently, perhaps, the
physical instincts of maternity. "She bends over the child," says
Taine, "with the beautiful action of a wild animal." Like a mother
creature instinctively protecting her young, she gathers him in her
capacious embrace as if to shield him from some impending danger. The
Sistine Madonna, on the other hand, is the most spiritual of Raphael's
creations, the perfect embodiment of ideal womanhood. The mother's
love is here transfigured by the spirit of sacrifice. Forgetful of
self, and obedient to the heavenly summons, she bears her son forth to
the service of humanity.
Sister spirits of the Madonnas, and hardly second in delicate
loveliness, are the virgin saints of Raphael; the Catherine, the
Cecilia, the Magdalene, and the Barbara are abiding ideals in our
dreams of fair women.
The same sweetness of nature which prompted Raphael's fondness for
lovely women and happy children shows itself also in his delineation
of angels. The archangel Michael, the angel visitors of Abraham, and
the celestial spirits appearing to Heliodorus all follow closely upon
the Madonnas in the purity and serenity of their beauty. In the same
fellowship also belongs the beautiful youth in the crowd at Lystra,
who is as sharply contrasted with his surroundings as if he were a
denizen of another sphere. The ideal is again repeated in the St. John
of the Cecilia altar-piece, whose uplifted face has a sweetness which
is not so much feminine as celestial. The angel of Peter's deliverance
is less successful than the artist's other angel types. The head
seems too small for the splendidly vigorous body, and the face lacks
somewhat of strength.
If Raphael's favorite ideals were drawn from youth and womanhood, it
was not because he did not understand the purely masculine. The AEneas
of the Borgo fresco, the Paul of the Cecilia altar-piece, and the
Sixtus of the Sistine Madonna show, in three ages, what is best and
most distinctive in ideal manhood.
Raphael's type of beauty is not such as calls forth immediate or
extravagant admiration: it is satisfying rather than amazing, and its
qualities dawn slowly though steadily upon the imagination. Raphael
holds always to the golden mean; no exaggerated note jars upon the
perfection of his harmonies. For this reason his pictures never grow
tiresome. They stand the test of daily companionship and grow ever
lovelier through familiarity.
Without forcing the parallel, we may say that something of the same
spirit which animated the work of Raphael reappears in the familiar
poetry of Longfellow. The one artist had an eye for beautiful line,
the other had an ear for melodious verse, and both alike shunned
whatever was inharmonious, always seeking grace and symmetry. Their
subjects were, indeed, of dissimilar range. Raphael, impressed by the
scholarship of his time, chose themes which were larger and more
related to the experience of the world, while Longfellow was never
very far removed from the golden milestone of domestic life. Yet in
diverse subjects both turned instinctively to aspects of womanhood, to
what was refined and gently emotional, and turned away from the
violent and revolutionary.
II. ON BOOKS OF REFERENCE.
Within the last forty years the methods of criticism as applied to art
have undergone so many changes that there has been a rapid succession
of biographers and critics of Raphael until the student reader of
to-day scarcely knows whom to believe. The time was when Vasari, in
his important "Lives of the Painters," was the accepted source of
information, and all current writers borrowed unquestioningly from him
both facts and opinions; but the old chronicler was too often
influenced by popular gossip and personal prejudice to be depended
upon. Many of his stories are positively disproved by documentary
evidence, and for some years he has stood in dust and disgrace on the
upper shelves of the bookcase. From this exile a revised edition has
recently brought him forth to fresh honors. The joint work of Mr. and
Mrs. E. H. Blashfield with A. A. Hopkins has given us an annotated
text which we may read with equal pleasure and profit. This is
certainly the best of all reference books to put us in touch with the
period in which Raphael lived.
The German work on Raphael by Passavant, once so weighty, is now
useful only to those who have opportunity to compare it with other
authorities. So likewise the work of Crowe and Cavalcaselle is no
longer desirable as a sole authority. Even the splendid work of Eugene
Muentz (translated by Walter Armstrong), the latest and most valuable
of the comprehensive books on Raphael, must be read in the light of
later criticism. Muentz's volume contains a complete list of the
master's works,--frescoes, easel pictures, tapestries, drawings, and
works in architecture and sculpture,--each class subdivided according
to subject.
A few of the shorter biographies of Raphael have been corrected
according to the conclusions of the most recent critical scholarship,
as represented by Morelli. Notable among these is the life of Raphael
in Kugler's "Handbook of the Italian Schools," revised by A. H.
Layard, and the life of Raphael included in Mrs. Jameson's "Early
Italian Painters," revised by Estelle M. Hurll.
The latest entirely new short biographies of Raphael are those (1) by
Mrs. Henry Ady (Julia Cartwright), issued in two parts as monographs for
"The Portfolio:" the "Early Work of Raphael" and "Raphael in Rome," and
(2) by H. Knackfuss in a series of German "Kuenstler-Monographien" (also
published in an English translation). Both are well illustrated and
useful books.
Finally the student is referred to Bernhard Berenson's "Central
Italian Painters of the Renaissance" for an exceedingly valuable
estimate of Raphael's character as an artist.
Many books have been written on the separate works of Raphael,--the
Vatican frescoes, the cartoons, the Madonnas, etc.,--but as most of
these are in German and Italian they are not generally available. The
Blashfield Vasari enumerates a long list of them in the Bibliography
preceding the "Life of Raphael."
III. HISTORICAL DIRECTORY OF THE PICTURES OF THIS COLLECTION.
_Portrait frontispiece._ Painted on wood, 1506, as a gift from the
painter to his uncle, Simone Ciarla, of Urbino. In 1588 the portrait
passed from Urbino to the Academy of St. Luke, Rome. Later it was sold
to Cardinal Leopoldo de' Medici for the Hall of Portraits of the Old
Masters in the Uffizi Gallery, Florence.
1. _The Madonna of the Chair_ is a wood panel 2 ft. 4-3/4 in.
diameter. It was painted between 1510-1514, and is now in the Pitti
Gallery, Florence.
2. _Abraham and the Three Angels_ is a mural painting in the fourth
arcade of the Loggie, Vatican Palace, Rome. It was executed by
Francesco Penni.
3, 4. _The Miraculous Draught of Fishes_ and _The Sacrifice at Lystra_
are cartoons in distemper colors. The execution was by Raphael's
pupils in 1515-1516. They were sent to Flanders as designs for
tapestries, and discovered by Rubens in a manufactory at Arras, 1630;
Charles I. of England purchased them, and they are now in the South
Kensington Museum, London.
5. _Heliodorus driven from the Temple_ (detail of the larger
composition known by this name) is a mural painting which gives the
name to the Camera d' Eliodoro, Vatican Palace, Rome. The date of the
painting is 1511-1512.
6. _The Liberation of Peter_ is a mural painting in the Camera d'
Eliodoro, Vatican Palace, Rome; the execution is by Giulio Romano,
1514.
7. _The Holy Family of Francis I._ is a canvas panel 8 ft. 9 in. by 5
ft. 3 in., painted for Lorenzo de' Medici, and presented by the Pope
Leo X. to Francis I. of France; hence the name. It was executed by
Giulio Romano in 1518, and is now in the Louvre, Paris.
8. _St. Catherine of Alexandria_ is a wood panel 2 ft. 4 in. by I ft.
9-1/2 in., painted in 1507, and now in the National Gallery, London.
9. _St. Cecilia_ is a panel painting which was transferred from wood
to canvas. It was painted about 1516 for the Church of S. Giovanni a
Monte, Bologna, and is now in the Bologna Gallery.
10. _The Transfiguration_, 14 ft. 9 in. by 9 ft. 1-1/2 in. Raphael
painted the upper part in 1519, and the picture was finished after his
death by Giulio Romano. It was ordered by the Cardinal de' Medici for
the Cathedral at Narbonne (France), but was retained in Rome after the
artist's death. It was taken to Paris during the French Revolution,
and restored to Rome in 1815. It is now in the Vatican Gallery.
11. _Parnassus_ is a mural painting in the Camera della Segnatura,
Vatican Palace, Rome. The date is 1509-1511.
12. _Socrates and Alcibiades_ (detail of the School of Athens) is a
mural painting in the Camera della Segnatura, Vatican Palace, Rome. It
was painted in 1509-1511.
13. _The Flight of AEneas_ (detail of the Conflagration in the Borgo),
a mural painting in the Camera dell' Incendio, Vatican Palace, Rome.
It was executed by Giulio Romano about 1515.
14. _St. Michael slaying the Dragon_, a panel 8 ft. 9-1/2 in. by 5 ft.
3 in. It was painted on wood and transferred to canvas. It was ordered
by Leo X. as a gift to Francis I., and was presented to him by Lorenzo
de' Medici. The execution is by Giulio Romano, 1518. It is now in the
Louvre, Paris.
15. _The Sistine Madonna_, a canvas panel 8 ft. 8 in. by 6 ft. 5 in.,
was painted about 1515 for the high altar of the Church of St. Sixtus,
Piacenza, and received its name from the portrait figure of St. Sixtus
which it contains; it was purchased by the Elector of Saxony in
1753-1754 for the Dresden Gallery.
IV. COLLATERAL READINGS FROM LITERATURE.
In connection with St. Catherine:--
Latin Hymn, Vox Sonora Nostri Chori, St. Catherine's
Day. Translated by David Morgan.
Mrs. Jameson. Sacred and Legendary Art.
S. Baring-Gould. Lives of the Saints. Volume for
November.
In connection with St. Cecilia:--
S. Baring-Gould. Lives of the Saints. Volume for
November.
Mrs. Jameson. Sacred and Legendary Art.
Chaucer. Second Nonnes Tale.
Dryden. Alexander's Feast: Ode in honor of St. Cecilia's
Day.
In connection with Parnassus:--
Shelley. Hymn of Apollo.
Keats. Ode to Apollo.
Bulfinch. Age of Fable.
In connection with the Flight of AEneas:--
Virgil. AEneid, Book II. Translated by C. P. Cranch.
In connection with Socrates and Alcibiades:--
Fenelon. Lives of the Philosophers. Translated by
John Cormack.
Plato. Alcibiades, The Symposium, Protagoras. Translated
by Jowett.
Milton. Paradise Regained. Book IV. lines 240-285.
In connection with St. Michael and the Dragon:--
Milton. Paradise Lost. Book VI.
In connection with the Sistine Madonna:--
Mrs. Jameson. Sacred and Legendary Art (for St.
Barbara).
V. OUTLINE TABLE OF THE PRINCIPAL EVENTS IN RAPHAEL'S LIFE.
1483. Raphael born at Urbino.
1499. Raphael enters Perugino's studio at Perugia.
1504. "The Marriage of the Virgin."
1504. Raphael's first visit to Florence.
1505. Raphael in Perugia:--
The Madonna of St. Anthony.
The fresco of San Severo.
1506. Visit at Urbino:--
Raphael's portrait by himself.
1504-1508. The Florentine Period:--
Granduca Madonna.
Tempi Madonna.
Madonna in the Meadow.
The Madonna del Cardellino.
The Belle Jardiniere.
The Canigiani Madonna.
1508. Raphael called to Rome by Pope Julius II.
1511. Raphael frescoes the Camera della Segnatura.
1512. Raphael begins decoration of the Camera d' Eliodoro.
1513. Raphael commissioned by Leo X. to continue work begun
under Julius II.
1514. "Galatea."
1514. Raphael appointed architect of St. Peter's by Leo X.
1508-1515. Some Madonnas of the Roman Period:--Foligno
Madonna.
Garvagh Madonna.
The Madonna of Casa Alba.
The Madonna of the Chair.
The Sistine Madonna.
1515. Camera dell' Incendio completed under Raphael's direction.
1515-1516. Cartoons for tapestries executed under Raphael's
direction.
1517. Farnesina frescoes painted under Raphael's direction.
1519. The Transfiguration.
1520. Raphael died in Rome.
VI. SOME FAMOUS CONTEMPORARIES OF RAPHAEL.
IN ITALY.
Rulers:--
Lorenzo de' Medici (reigned 1469-1492) and Pietro de' Medici
(1492-1494), dukes of Florence.
Giovanni Galeazzo Sforza (reigned 1476-1494), Lodovico Maria
Sforza (1494-1500), and Massimiliano Sforza (1512-1515),
dukes of Milan.
Francesco Maria della Rovere, duke of Urbino (born 1490;
died 1535).
Ferdinand I. (reigned 1458-1494), Ferdinand II. (reigned
1495-1496), and Ferdinand III., kings of Naples, the last
being he who was also king of Spain as Ferdinand V.
Innocent VIII. (1484-1492), Alexander VI. (1492-1503),
Pius III. (1503), Julius II. (1503-1513), and Leo X. (1513-1523),
popes.
Painters:--
Older group:--
Perugino (1446-1523).
Bazzi (1477-1549).
Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519).
Bartolommeo (1475-1517).
Giorgione (1477-1510).
Titian (1477-1576).
Giovanni Bellini (1428-1516).
Compeers:--
Andrea del Sarto (1486-1531).
Sebastian del Piombo (1485-1547).
Assistants and Pupils:--
Giulio Romano (1492-1546).
Giovanni da Udine (1487-1564).
Francesco Penni (1488-1528).
Marc Antonio (1487-1539), engraver.
Michelangelo (1474-1564), sculptor.
Bramante (1444-1514), architect of St. Peter's.
Sanazzaro Jacopo (1458-1530 or 1532), poet (De Partu Virginia).
Ariosto (1474-1533), poet (Orlando Furioso).
Francesco Berni (1496-1536), comic poet.
Cardinal Bembi (1470-1547), celebrated scholar.
Count Baldasarre Castiglione (1478-1529), writer and patron of literature.
Christopher Columbus (1436 or 1446-1506), discoverer.
IN PORTUGAL.
Vasco da Gama (died 1525), discoverer.
IN ENGLAND.
Richard III. (1483-1485), Henry VII. (1485-1509), Henry
VIII. (1509-1547), kings.
Sebastian Cabot (1477-15?), discoverer.
IN GERMANY.
Frederick III. (1440-1493), emperor of Austria, and
Maximilian I. (1493-1519).
Martin Luther (1483-1546), religious reformer.
Albert Duerer (1471-1528), painter.
Holbein (1498-1543), painter.
Copernicus (1473-1545), astronomer.
IN FRANCE.
Charles VIII. (1483-1498), king.
Rabelais (1483 or 1495-1553), satirist.
IN SPAIN.
Ferdinand (died 1516) and Isabella (died 1504), king and
queen, beginning to reign in 1474.
I
THE MADONNA OF THE CHAIR
In early days an Italian in addressing a lady used the word Madonna,
which, like the French word Madame, means My Lady. Now he says
Signora; Madonna would have to him an old-fashioned sound. To the rest
of the world this word Madonna has come to be applied almost wholly to
the Virgin Mary, with or without the child Jesus; and as Raphael
painted a great many pictures of the Madonna for churches or other
sacred places, a name has been given to each, drawn usually from some
circumstance about it.
The Madonna of the Chair is so called because in this picture the
Virgin is seated. She is sitting in a low chair, holding her child on
her knee, and encircling him with her arms. Her head is laid tenderly
against the child's, and she looks out of the picture with a tranquil,
happy sense of motherly love.
The child has the rounded limbs and playful action of the feet of a
healthy, warm-blooded infant, and he nestles into his mother's embrace
as snugly as a young bird in its nest. But as he leans against the
mother's bosom and follows her gaze, there is a serious and even grand
expression in his eyes which Raphael and other painters always sought
to give to the child Jesus to mark the difference between him and
common children.
By the side of the Madonna is the child who is to grow up as St. John
the Baptist. He carries a reed cross, as if to herald the death of the
Saviour; his hands are clasped in prayer, and though the other two
look out of the picture at us, he fixes his steadfast look on the
child, in ardent worship.
Around each of the heads is very faintly seen a nimbus, as it is
called; that is, the old painters were wont to distinguish sacred
persons by a circle about the head. Sometimes, as here, the circle is
a golden line only; sometimes it is a gold band almost like a plate
against which the head is set. This circular form took the name Nimbus
from the Latin word for a cloud, as if the heads of sacred persons
were in an unearthly surrounding. It is also called a halo. Such a
representation is a symbol or sign to indicate those higher and more
mysterious qualities which are beyond the artist's power to portray.
This simple composition is a perfect round, and if one studies it
attentively one will see how curved and flowing are all the lines
within the circle; even the back of the chair, though perpendicular,
swells and curves into roundness. It is by such simple means as this
that the painter gives pleasure to the eye. The harmony of the lines
of the composition makes a perfect expression of the peaceful group
centred thus about the divine child.
[Illustration: MADONNA OF THE CHAIR
_Pitti Gallery, Florence_]
It is a home scene and one such as Raphael might have seen in Rome
in his own time. Not unlikely he saw a mother enfolding her child thus
when he was taking a walk at the quiet end of day, and caught at once
a suggestion from the scene for a Madonna. There is indeed an old
legend which grew up about this picture, relating the supposed
circumstances under which Raphael found a charming family group which
served him as a model, and which he rapidly sketched upon the head of
a cask; the circular form of the picture is thus accounted for.
Whether or not this pretty story is true, it is certain that the
Madonna of the Chair is a true picture of home life either in
Raphael's time or even in our own day. The mother wears a handkerchief
of many colors over her shoulders, and another on her head like the
Roman scarf one still sees nowadays.