Friday, May 12, 2017

Raphael's Influence (Artistic)

Anton Raphael Mengs
Copy of Raphael's School of Athens fresco in the Stanza della Segnatura at the Vatican
1752-55
oil on canvas
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

"After his arrival, therefore, having been received very warmly by Pope Julius, Raffaello began in the Camera della Segnatura a scene of the theologians reconciling Philosophy and Astrology with Theology; wherein are portraits of all the sages in the world, disputing in various ways.  Standing apart are some astrologers, who have made various kinds of figures and characters of geomancy and astrology on some little tablets, which they send to the Evangelists by certain very beautiful angels; and these Evangelists are expounding them.  Among them is Diogenes with his cup, lying on the steps, and lost in thought, a figure very well conceived, which, for its beauty and the characteristic negligence of its dress, is worthy to be extolled.  There, also, are Aristotle and Plato, one with the Timaeus in his hand, the other with the Ethics; and around them, in a circle, is a great school of philosophers.  Nor is it possible to express the beauty of those astrologers and geometricians who are drawing a vast number of figures and characters with compasses on tablets; among whom, in the figure of a young man, shapely and handsome, who is throwing out his arms in admiration, and inclining his head, is the portrait of Federigo II, Duke of Mantua, who was then in Rome.  There is also a figure that is stooping to the ground, holding in its hand a pair of compasses, with which it is making a circle on a tablet; this is said to be the architect Bramante, and it is no less the man himself than if he were alive, so well is it drawn.  . . .  And in addition to the details of the conceptions, which are numerous enough, there is the composition of the whole scene, which is truly arranged with so much order and proportion, that he may be said to have given therein such a proof of his powers as made men understand that he was resolved to hold the sovereignty, without question, among all who handled the brush."

 from the Life of Raffaello da Urbino by Giorgio Vasari in Lives of the Painters, Sculptors and Architects (1568) translated by Gaston du C. de Vere (1912)

Agostino dei Musi after Raphael
Figures from School of Athens fresco
before 1540
engraving
Victoria & Albert Museum

Henry Fuseli after Raphael
Figure from School of Athens fresco
1777
drawing
British Museum

Giulio Romano after Raphael
Man hurling Rock
ca. 1519-20
drawing
Royal Collection, Windsor

Carlo Maratti after Raphael
Soldiers approaching River God
before 1713
drawing
Royal Collection, Windsor

Pietro Facchetti after Raphael
Saturn - with sign of Sagittarius
before 1602
oil on canvas
Prado, Madrid

Luca Giordano after Raphael
Holy Family
ca. 1697
oil on canvas
Prado, Madrid

Marcantonio after Raphael
Dance of Children and Cupids
before 1534
engraving
Victoria & Albert Museum

Giovanni Antonio da Brescia after Raphael
Presentation of the Virgin
ca. 1510-20
engraving
British Museum

Arthur Pond after Raphael
Woman carrying Jars
1734
etching and chiaroscuro woodcut
British Museum

Agostino Veneziano after Raphael
Young Roman at an Altar
ca. 1515-30
engraving
British Museum

Anne-Claude de Caylus after Raphael
The Entombment
ca. 1710-29
etching
Teylers Museum, Haarlem 

Peter Paul Rubens after Raphael
Figure from Fire in the Borgo fresco at the Vatican
before 1640
drawing
British Museum

Horace Vernet
Opening the Tomb of Raphael in the Pantheon, Rome
1833
lithograph
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York