Raphael A Passionate Life

by Forcellino, Antonio; Byatt, Lucinda

• ISBN13: 9780745644110
• ISBN10: 0745644112
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2012-07-16
• Publisher: Polity

Summary

Craving pleasure as well as knowledge, Raphael Sanzio was quick to realize that his talent would only be truly appreciated in the liberal, carefree and extravagantly sensual atmosphere of Rome during its golden age under Julius II and Leo X. Arriving in the city in 1508 at the age of twenty-five, he was entranced and seduced by life at the papal court and within a few months had emerged as the most brilliant star in its intellectual firmament. His art achieved a natural grace that was totally uninhibited and free from subjection. His death, at just thirty-seven, plunged the city into the kind of despair that follows the passing of an esteemed and much loved prince. In this major new biography Antonio Forcellino retraces the meteoric arc of Raphael's career by re-examining contemporary documents and accounts and interpreting the artist's works with the eye of an expert art restorer. Raphael's paintings are vividly described and placed in their historical context. Forcellino analyses Raphael's techniques for producing the large frescos for which he is so famous, examines his working practices and his organization of what was a new kind of artistic workshop, and shows how his female portraits expressed and conveyed a new attitude to women. This rich and nuanced account casts aside the misconceptions passed on by those critics who persistently tried to undermine Raphael's mythical status, enabling one of the greatest artists of all time to re-emerge fully as both man and artist.

Author Biography

Antonio Forcellino is an art historian and restorer.

Table of Contents

List of Illustrations	p. viii
Introduction	p. 1
Giovanni's Son	p. 10
A Well-to-Do Household	p. 10
A Sophisticated Court	p. 15
Home and Workshop	p. 19
Assistants and Masters	p. 27
A Precocious Master	p. 32
From Urbino to Umbria	p. 34
The First Test	p. 34
Recognition	p. 39
Challenging the Masters	p. 47
Turbulent Landscapes	p. 52
The End of the Terror	p. 59
The Florentine Period	p. 66
In the City of Titans	p. 66
A New World	p. 75
The Way Up	p. 83
Chronicle of a Tragedy	p. 87
A Sudden Departure	p. 95
In Rome	p. 101
The Half-Hidden Ruins	p. 101
From Chalices to Helmets	p. 107
The War of Images	p. 112
The Rise to Primacy	p. 120
The School of Raphael	p. 127
The Pope and His Banker	p. 135
The Pope's Beard	p. 135
The Stanza of Heliodorus	p. 140
Through the Streets of Rome	p. 146
The Pope's Banker	p. 152
Amor vincit omnia	p. 157
Venus Emerges from Water	p. 161
The Death of a Warrior Pope	p. 165
The Years of Triumph	p. 168
A New Era	p. 168
One Long Party	p. 173
Serving the Dream	p. 176
Raven Black Hair and Eyes	p. 180
State Portraits	p. 189
The Discovery of Architecture	p. 198
Devout Women	p. 198
Storming the Fortress	p. 208
The Flight of Icarus	p. 212
Private Pleasures	p. 219
Between the Tiber and Monte Mario	p. 225
A New Artist	p. 229
The Inaccessible Palace	p. 229
A Web of Jealousies	p. 240
Venus Returns	p. 244
Villa Madama	p. 252
The Star that Fell from Heaven	p. 257
Notes	p. 263
Index	p. 286
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