The Trifecta of Renaissance Masters was Leonardo, Michelangelo, and Raffaello. In a time and place that changed Western Art, these three were at the top of the profession. The Metropolitan Museum of Art's exhibit of Raphael's work—assembled from around the world—is likely a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to see so many of his pictures together. Every picture is a wonder, whether a painting or a drawing.
Shown above, Raphael's 1515 portrait of Florentine banker Bindo Altoviti. The sitter was still a youth, 24 or 25 years old. Raphael leaned-into the Classical ideal of radiant (youthful) male beauty—channeling Apollo Phoebus. The unusual pose had been previously captured by Leonardo, though it became more popular as this picture became increasingly famous. I love the blocks of saturated color—deep green, midnight blue, blond locks—set against his clear, youthful complexion.
Although Raphael painted many secular portraits for wealthy patrons, his biggest commissions were for the Church. He produced many religious paintings for use in churches, chapels or for private devotion. Shown above, a fragment from a larger altarpiece for which he had been commissioned. Raphael was seventeen years old, yet, the contract already identifies him as a "magister" (master). It was commissioned in 1500 by a wealthy wool merchant for his family's chapel in the church of Sant'Agostino in Città di Castello. Alas, in 1789, an earthquake destroyed the altarpiece. Surviving fragments were cut-up into parts and disbursed. The upheaval of the Napoleonic Wars, which followed, didn't help matters, either. Only three fragments, including this one, are currently known.
This masterpiece is arguably the highlight of the Raphael exhibit at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Notice the angle at which I photographed it; it was impossible to negotiate my way through the crowd standing before it. Called the Alba Madonna, it was painted in 1511 by a 28 year old Raphael. It spent its first 150 years in Italy, after which it was purchased by the Spanish Dukes of Alba (from whom it got its popular name). In 1836, Tsar Nicholas I of Russia purchased the picture and it became one of the highlights of the Hermitage Museum in Saint Petersburg. In 1931, during the Great Depression, Andrew Mellon (of Pittsburgh) quietly purchased the work from the Soviets—who probably needed the cash (and didn't mind disposing of such a blatantly religious work). Since 1937, it has been in the collection of the National Gallery in Washington, DC. Andrew Mellon contributed his art collection to found the museum (and he also financed the construction of the facility). I pray that no one in-power decides to sell (or trade-away) this priceless treasure—in exchange for another plane or, perhaps, the naming rights to a Middle Eastern hotel.
Raphael's accomplishment as a draughtsman was no less impressive. Several sketches were in the exhibit—often preparatory studies for other works. Shown above, commanding studies (1519-20) of the heads and hands of Saints Peter and John for The Transfiguration, Raphael's final painting (now in the Vatican).
Here is another study of an apostle, also for The Transfiguration.
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