Raphael, one of the three most renowned artists of the Italian High Renaissance, was an incredibly prolific painter. He left behind around a hundred paintings and a large number of drawings. He stands out as the greatest master of drawing in Western art.
Raphael, born Raffaelo Sanzio, was born in 1483 in Urbino. His father, Giovanni, was a court painter and sculptor and his first teacher. In 1504, he became a student of the great master Perugino, who placed great importance on drawings. In Perugino’s school, there was always a sharp distinction between the conception and execution of a painting. Since the time of Romanesque art, the established painting practice was for the artist to meticulously plan the final design before applying any pigment. Developing the conception and making sketches (drawings) were the most crucial part of the creative process. This method of painting was called “disegno.” With the later development of art, the view emerged that such preparation was a mental activity, while the realization (painting the actual picture) was the tangible work. In the dust. Drawings, as the sole physical traces of that mental process, had lost their importance and were not attracting public attention.
After completing his education, Rafael lived for years traveling across northern Italy, spending a long time in Florence where he learned from older greats such as Michelangelo and Leonardo da Vinci. He arrived in Rome in 1508, marking the beginning of his most creative period. He worked in the Vatican, becoming a protege of Pope Julius II, and in 1514 was appointed as the chief Vatican architect, one of the highest positions an artist of that time could achieve.
Rafael used to create a large number of sketches before working on a study. Once he made the sketches, he would start working on the main lines of the artwork he had in mind, assembling parts from the preparatory drawings. This method allowed him to choose different poses and details before deciding on the final version.
Muse portrait, around 1510-11.
Rafael’s progress was astonishing. His impressive artistic gift makes him distinctive. With a little imagination, observing Rafael’s drawings opens a gateway to his workshop in Renaissance Rome, and the creative process is best described by the eminent art historian Catherine Whistler in her essay “Rafael’s Hands as Memory, Observation, Conjuring Imagination,” where with complete coordination of hands and mind, materials slowly transition from ideas to visible forms.
In order to bring Rafael’s work closer to a wider audience, an exhibition featuring over a hundred and twenty of his drawings was opened at the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford in 2017. It was a unique opportunity for visitors to peek into the world of the Italian Renaissance and get to know Rafael’s life and work better, from his early days of artistic formation in Urbino to his mature period of creation in Rome.
Most of the drawings in the exhibition, whether biblical or mythological in theme, clearly demonstrate Rafael’s inspiration from ancient art. In the drawing of Hercules battling the lion, Hercules is depicted in a heroic pose reminiscent of ancient statues, his muscles bulging in the struggle. bird cannon. His body is in a pose reminiscent of Greek sculptures, while his cape in motion symbolizes victory and power. Rafael adds dramatic lines with dark ink, such as a lion’s jaw, creating a contrast to the cape. The background is drawn with a light, almost invisible stroke of the pencil, allowing the observer to imagine the environment in which Hercules is located and thus adding the final touch to the drawing with their imagination. In contrast to Hercules, who is robust and powerful like Mars, also mythologically inspired, the Portrait of the Muse is a more delicate drawing, full of elegance and grace. This portrait served as preparation for painting the fresco of Apollo enthroned on a mountain surrounded by four muses, which is located in the Vatican.
The drawing depicts Hercules battling a lion.
SPREZZATURA
In Raphael’s drawings, one can see a completely new dimension of his talent – in the free form of the drawing, he unleashes his imagination and gives an excellent example of the so-called sprezzatura style. Sprezzatura is “the art of practiced nonchalance,” a term coined in Italy in the 16th century, which celebrates the ability to make difficult tasks appear effortless, giving the impression of easy grace in execution. The concept of “the virtue of simplicity” is aimed at making every movement appear completely natural, without any artificiality. Even complex tasks, which are impossible to perform without prior planning, must seem as if they were executed spontaneously. Raphael adopted this style from his teacher Perugino.
As a protege of Pope Julius II, Raphael painted some of the artworks that are now among the most famous pieces in the Vatican Museum. In the sketch for the preparation of the fresco The School of Athens, he arranged the philosophers almost like verses – they converse, discuss, explain in a silent rhythm akin to a choir of singers. Poetry, justice, and theology are intertwined in a harmonious symphony. This piece, one of his most renowned masterpieces, was preceded by the most comprehensive study in red chalk.
Madonna with Child, around 1504, Albertina Museum, Vienna.
In the 16th century, renowned art historian Giorgio Vasari noted that Raphael was very popular in Rome even during his lifetime. This popularity did not stem solely from his. Raphael’s talent came not only from his skill but also from his pleasant personality and courtesy. Human destinies touched Raphael; he was always ready to talk and listen. He empathized with people around him, regardless of their status and wealth.
DESIGN AND COLOR
Raphael, his teacher Perugino, and most Florentine Renaissance masters were proponents of the disegno method, in which the concept of the painting was carefully developed first, based on which sketches were made. Sketches were drawn on high-quality paper or parchment. Raphael was a master of various sketching techniques: using metal sticks (pencils with metal instead of graphite), with pen and ink, and with black and red chalk. Only then did they start painting on canvas or wall (frescoes).
Raphael’s Venetian contemporaries, such as Titian, used the colorito method – they drew directly on the canvas (or wall) and adjusted the painting concept as needed during work, focusing more on colors and precise brushstrokes.
It was in his drawings that his empathetic nature and artistic vision truly shone. The empathy is even more evident due to their bareness, because without colors, tones, and complex backgrounds, the characters naturally come into focus. One of the most striking drawings at the exhibition is definitely the Head and Hands of Two Apostles, believed to have been created only a week or two before Raphael’s death. The drawing, technically achieved through multidirectional shading, masterfully depicts the spring and autumn of human life in two figures, two apostles trying to heal a boy and realizing they cannot do it alone without the help of Jesus Christ. One apostle is young, full of life and energy, but obviously concerned, almost in a spasm. The other apostle is older, wiser, calmer, full of compassion and understanding. A contrast is created by the depiction of their hands – one has clenched, closed hands, the other has open hands. Raphael portrayed how experience helps the older apostle stoically, even with a touch of joy, accept the situation as it is, to understand his limitations, but to continue with healing with love and patience. p>A drawing of the head of a young apostle. Made with black charcoal around 1519-20 as a sketch for Raphael’s final painting, the Transfiguration of Jesus.
Raphael passed away in 1520, at the age of 37, at the peak of his creative powers. His untimely death shook Rome and all of Italy.
An outstanding artist, highly popular and beloved by the public and the pope, Raphael achieved remarkable artistic works during his short life. However, when looking at his drawings, a different side of Raphael emerges, one that is less of a public figure and more of a human being, a man whose drawings and paintings subtly depict love for humanity. In these works, he is always direct, gentle, and full of the love that is evident in every line, every movement of the figures, in every wrinkle of the faces drawn, in the meticulously drawn hair… Whether he is drawing old or young, warriors or priests, men or women, love is there in every stroke.
Many later greats of Western art, such as Rubens, Rembrandt, Picasso, and Ingres, took Raphael as a model. Dawn. Although they are painters of various styles, all of them recognized the power in Raphael’s works. Just like in the Renaissance Shakespeare and Cervantes were masters of words and language, Raphael is a master of graphic words and visual language.
Detail from the Athenian school.
As he progressed over the years, he increasingly used red chalk, sanguine, as a direct influence from Leonardo da Vinci during the period he spent adopting the artistic traditions of Florence. Unlike black chalk, red enabled the creation of much more complex and precise artistic work, especially in larger and more intricate pieces.
What particularly sets his drawings apart is the clarity, balanced composition, and spiritual expression of characters of serene beauty. In Raphael’s drawings, the spirit of the high Renaissance comes to full expression with a sense of harmony and fascination with classical harmony and ideal beauty.