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History and Evolution:
By William E. Steinman:
Part 62, Raphael and Others:
May 31, 2004:
Let us move away from religion and politics back to art. Another of the greats of the Italian High Renaissance was Raffaello Sanziomaster, usually know just as Raphael (1483-1520). Raphael was a painter and architect of the Neoplatonic, humanist schools. Although not as well know he ranks right up there with Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo. He was a precocious student who showed extraordinary talent even when he was just a youngster of 17. He was considered to be a master painter at that age.
Raphael is best know for his paintings of the Madonna though he also did large figure compositions. His works, include Coronation of the Virgin, now in the Vatican museum in Rome. His first major work, The Marriage of the Virgin was done in 1504 when he was just 21. He did other works under the tutelage of Perugino at Perugia in cental Italy, then he needed more inspiration. He moved to Florence where he found it in Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo. There he did a series of Madonnas which now hang in museums the world over. In those days, everyone was doing Madonnas, even Leonardo who did Madonna and child with St. Anne.
Raphael also painted the Disposition of Christ that now hangs in the Borghese Gallery in Rome. It is said he expressed his understanding of Michelangelo's work in the expressiveness of human anatomy. He spent the last years of his short life in Rome having been summoned by pope Julius II. There he produced a number of masterpieces including frescos for rooms in the papal apartments. By that time he already had students and assistants who executed some of the work under his direction.
Besides being a warrior pope, Julius II was probably the greatest art patron of the papal line. Of course, he is best know for his friendship with and sponsoring of Michelangelo. However, he had other artists in his stable including Bramante and Raphael. The decoration of the Stanza della Segnatura for Julius is considered to be Raphael's greatest work. This Stanza della Segnatura is simply a room in the papal apartments of the Vatican. The theme of these frescos was the historical justification for the power of the Roman Catholic Church. This had to do with Neoplatonic philosophy.
To be sure, Raphael did a great deal more work in Rome. One was Triumph of Galatea in the Villa Farnesina, The Stanza d'Eliodoro, another room in the papal apartments, included depictions of miraculous events of Christian history. There were four walls to decorate and four painting to decorate them. They are The Expulsion of Heliodorus from the Temple, The Miracle at Bolsena, The Liberation of St. Peter, and Leo I Halting Attila. He also did a number of Madonnas while in Rome including his Alba Madonna which hangs in the National Gallery in Washington D. C.
Raphael also did portraits. In fact he was likely the most important portraitist in Rome at the time. In 1513 Leo X succeeded Julius and Raphael did a portrait of him with two cardinals. He was also commissioned by Leo to design ten large tapestries to hang on the walls of the Sistine Chapel. Seven of these were woven from full sized drawings made by Raphael. They are still in the Vatican. The drawings, called cartoons, are in the British royal collection.
Like many of his contemporaries, Raphael was multitalented. His architectural work included the design of the church of Sant' Eligio degli Orefici. He also worked with Bramante on the basilica of St. Peter. In fact, he took that over when Bramante died. Of course, he changed the plans for the church from a radial, to a longitudinal design.
Another of his talents lay in his study of archaeology and in particular, Greco-Roman sculpture. He supervised the preservation of marbles bearing valuable Latin inscriptions for Leo. He was then appointed commissioner of antiquities for the city of Rome, and he made an archaeological map of Rome. Raphael was also put in charge of virtually all of the papacy's various artistic projects in Rome, involving architecture, paintings and decoration, and the preservation of antiquities.
Raphael's last masterpiece is the Transfiguration (commissioned in 1517) a large altarpiece that was unfinished when he died. It was completed by his assistant Giulio Romano and still hangs in the Vatican Museum. Raphael died on his 37th birthday. After his funeral mass, celebrated at the Vatican, he was buried in the Pantheon in Rome.
One of the more curious characters of the Renaissance was a fellow named Agrippa von Nettesheim (1486-1535). This guy got around a bit and got knocked around a bit. He was a theologian in the Church. He was also a court secretary to the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V and a physician to Louise of Savoy. He also found time to teach at Dôle and Pavia universities. Agrippa was an expert on occultism and a public advocate at Metz. He was denounced for defending a witch and banished from Germany when he picked a fight with the inquisitor of Cologne. Later he was imprisoned in France for criticizing the Queen Mother.
He was interested in magic and wrote a book De occulta philosophia.
In this he explained the world in terms of the alleged secret
meanings of Hebrew letters and Pythagorean numerology. He offered
magic as the best way to know God and nature. In 1530 he went
a bit too far and really annoyed Charles V by publishing "Of
the Vanitie and uncertaintie of artes and sciences. It was a vigorous
attack on all sciences. That gave impetus to a revival of Skepticism
in the Renaissance. Charles branded him a heretic and threw him
in the clink. So much for Agrippa. So much for Charlie's malevolent,
benevolence.
Another philosopher, Juan Luis Vives (1492-1540) was a Spaniard
who had sense enough to leave Spain when he was just 17. This
was the time of the inquisitions and any thoughtful person who
wrote or spoke out could easily become a target. This would be
especially true of anyone who opposed Scholasticism as Vives did.
He was a humanist who thought induction to be the proper method
of inquiry.
Vives studied at Paris and was appointed professor of the humanities at Louvain. For some reason, he was a fan of Henry VIII and dedicated his commentary on St. Augustine's De civitate Dei to him. Go figure! He went to England in 1523, and was appointed preceptor to Mary, princess of Wales. He lectured on philosophy at Oxford. but things went bad for him in 1527. He had the poor judgement to opposing the royal divorce from Catherine of Aragon. He was not treated as violently as More for his indiscretion, but he did get put in the slammer for a few weeks. After that fiasco he had sense enough to leave England for The Netherlands where he spent his time writing.
The products of his pen were well received in the humanist world. In his first works, On the Right Method of Instruction for Children and Twenty Books on Disciplines, he argued for the use of the common language for schools. He also recommended building academies and he supported education for women. For boys, he proposed the study of nature using inductive methods similar to what Erasmus had advocated for the study of Scripture.
In psychology and philosophy he produced his Three Books on
the Soul and on Life. Again he emphasized induction as a method
of inquiry and discovery. In that he was a bit ahead of is time.
He also discussed the nature of memory and animal psychology.
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