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Dear Friends,
After yet another very long recess - for which I doubly
apologize -, I would like to present in this opportunity the
third-in-importance Renaissance painter, Raffaello Sanzio di
Urbino,
commonly known as
Raphael - the first two being the great Leonardo, who was the
last artist featured in this forum, and Michelangelo, not
featured yet. I am departing this time from what so far has been
our custom, i.e. to show great but relatively unknown pieces
only, and so the painting I am pleased to present to you today
is not only one of Raphael's most precious masterworks, but
perhaps his best known and most emblematic one as well: The
so-called Madonna of the Chair ("Madonna della
Seggiola"), here shown preciously framed such as may
be appreciated at the Galleria Palatina of the Palazzo Pitti, in
Florence, Italy. (You may click on the image to enlarge it.)
NOTE: To view a larger, non-framed image, click
HERE.
An Italian Renaissance painter, frescoeist, sculptor, architect,
poet and archaeologist, Raphael was, like the two other great
Renaissance artists mentioned above, most prolific. He studied
under Pietro Perugino and was, in turn, the teacher of the
great Mannerist painter Giulio Romano and of other lesser-known
Mannerists. He was active in Urbino, Perugia, Umbria, Florence
and, specially, Rome.
Other favorite paintings and frescoes by Raphael include (by
date of execution):
Spozalizio (The Engagement of Virgin Mary),
The Granduca Madonna,
Portrait of Agnolo Dogni,
The School of Athens,
Madonna Velvedere (Madonna del Prato),
Portrait of Bindo Altoviti,
The Sistine Madonna,
Portrait of Baldassare Castiglione,
Woman with a Veil (La Donna Velata),
Holy Family below the Oak,
The Transfiguration,
Baptisme of Constantine.
As always, good feedback is highly appreciated.
Thank you,
Luis Miguel Goitizolo
GREAT MASTERS OF
PAINTING
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Madonna della
Seggiola (1)
by
Raphael Sanzio
born 6 April 1483, Urbino
(Pesaro e Urbino, Marches, Italy)
died 1520, Rome (Lazio, Italy)
Profile
(2)
Italian in full
Raffaello Sanzio master painter and
architect of the Italian
High Renaissance. Raphael is best known for his Madonnas (see
photograph) and for his large figure compositions in the
Vatican in Rome. His work is admired for its clarity of form and
ease of composition and for its visual achievement of the
Neoplatonic ideal of
human grandeur.
Italian painter, draughtsman and architect, he has
always been acknowledged as one of the greatest European artists.
With Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo and Titian, he was one of
the most famous painters working in Italy in the period from
1500 to 1520, often identified as the High Renaissance, and in
this period he was perhaps the most important figure. His early
altarpieces (of 1500–07) were made for Città di Castello and
Perugia; in Florence between 1504 and 1508 he created some of
his finest portraits and a series of devotional paintings of the
Holy Family. In 1508 he moved to Rome, where he decorated in
fresco the Stanze of the papal apartments in the Vatican
Palace—perhaps his most celebrated works—as well as executing
smaller paintings in oil (including portraits) and a series of
major altarpieces, some of which were sent from Rome to other
centres. In Rome, Raphael came to run a large workshop. He also
diversified, working as an architect and designer of prints.
Technical data
(3)
Madonna della Seggiola (framed)
Oil on wood, c.1514
27 7/8 x 27
7/8 inches (71 x
71 cm)
Galleria Palatina (Palazzo Pitti), Florence
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(1) This
image is a courtesy of
the Web Gallery of Art. (2)
Sources:
Encyclopaedia
Britannica Online,
Grove
Dictionary of Art Online (excerpt).
(3)
Source:
Art Renewal Center. |
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