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The Even-Tempered Raphael

Blog Post #1 – Late Gothic & Early Renaissance – High Renaissance & Mannerism.

Raphael’s self-portrait, oil on board. In this, he attempts to capture his own artistic persona. It’s a soft painting that cast his eyes downward. This with deeper shadows perfectly portrays his thoughtful and more polite attitude.

The famous Italian painter Raphael started out working under the mentor Perugino; a master painter in the high Renaissance, known for primarily religious paintings in tempera and oils on altarpieces or wood panels. Through his mentorship, Raphael was also able to master techniques such as sfumato, perspective, anatomy, and capturing emotions; these were key qualities that defined the high renaissance art style. Raphael was particularly known for using richer colors in well-balanced compositions as seen in his works like ‘The triumph of Galetea’,  ‘Disputation of the Most Holy Sacrament’, ‘Transfiguration, and my personal favorite ‘The School of Athens’.

The fresco painting ‘The Triumph of Galatea’, is based on the Greek myth of Galatea and Pygmalion. A great example of Raphael’s capturing emotions and his use of brighter pigments. It helps portray the narrative and moral of idealized forms and love towards artistic creations in the original myth.

Though these works highlight his greatest technical skills they don’t portray the qualities Raphael possessed that set him apart from other painters in the high Renaissance. Raphael’s arguably greatest skill accounts for his even-temper and tenacious work ethic to improve. He was comparably easier to work with and more well-mannered than the other great artists of the time such as Michelangelo and Leonardo DaVinci. Though in comparison he started off at a disadvantage technically, his soft skills of being able to work well with patrons gave him a great advantage in his career. His work ethic to improve is both inspiring to myself and the reason I choose to do further research on this painter. His technical skill is equally amazing but his tenacity to improve is a quality that I value deeply. It greatly paid off for Raphael, as he is now one of the most influential figures that defined art in the High Renaissance.

 ‘The School of Athens’ is a large fresco that adorns the walls of the Apostolic Palace in the Vatican. The painting contains some of the most influential thinkers and creators of the High Renaissance. This shows Raphael’s master over perspective in his almost effortless compositions.
Raphael’s, ‘Transfiguration’ uses dynamic forms and emotion help to narrate the biblical story. The figures have an almost sculpted quality through the use of sfumato. This piece also contains higher areas of contrast than his others. It was completed using Temura on wood in the Vatican city.
‘Disputation of the Most Holy Sacrament’ is another example of Raphael’s ambition with the number of figures he adds to his paintings. He also showcases once again his understanding of perspective and creating depth within beautifully composed compositions. This painting was completed using fresco in Vatican city.

Citations:

Carrigan, Margaret. “The 10 Best Artworks by Raphael, Seraphic Genius of the Renaissance-Ranked.” Artnet News, Artnet News, 10 Aug. 2017, https://news.artnet.com/art-world/10-greatest-artworks-raphael-seraphic-genius-renaissance-ranked-1047047.

Gombrich, E. H. The Story of Art. 16th ed., Phaidon Press, 2021.

“Raphael Paintings, Bio, Ideas.” The Art Story, https://www.theartstory.org/artist/raphael/#:~:text=Raphael%20not%20only%20mastered%20the,that%20was%20distinctly%20his%20own.

“Raphael.” Encyclopædia Britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., https://www.britannica.com/biography/Raphael-Italian-painter-and-architect.

2 replies on “The Even-Tempered Raphael”

Rachel,
Excellent post on Raphael! You have solid information through your research and combined that with real insight and feelings about the works in question. I also like that you took the time to analyze the individual pieces. What I also like is that through your research and writing you’ve developed an admiration for the artist that you wouldn’t have had before. That is what this exercise is all about. Good Job!
Jeff

Writing comment from Patrick
Good storytelling. Suggest you read aloud and use Grammarly to catch small errors (capitalizing renaissance), italicizing the titles of paintings, and improving sentences. (Raphael’s arguably greatest skill accounts for his even-temper and tenacious work ethic to improve…is it the other way around?). Overall, clear and concise.
Rewriting is key to improving writing.

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