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[1322-10]
 Image source: wikimedia commons | Mary, Josepn and the baby Jesus are depicted, with John the Baptist (the Patron Saint of Florence) set in the middle ground. The five male nudes at the rear are said to relate to pagan humanity, They were likely prompted by the coincident recovery of Hellenic artifacts in the excavations of Roman villas; at this time this work uncovered the Apollo of the Belvedere and the Laocoön. The use of mixed bright colours is considered to be a ‘prototype’ for their use in the Sistine Chapel frescoes. This is the mature Michelangelo’s only finished panel painting that has survived (two extant unfinished panels survive – Entombment and the ‘Manchester’ Madonna). Said to have been commissioned by Florentine merchant Agnolo Doni to commemorate the christening of his first child. He had married into a powerful Tuscan family, the Strozzi, in 1504. He had also commissioned Raphael portraits of he and his wife (see below). The original frame of Doni Tondo has reliefs of five heads and other symbols. It is not clear but conjectured that these are references to the Doni and Strozzi families. |
| Doni Tondo (Holy Family) | 1505-6 | Oil/Pnl | History Painting |
| ARTIST: | DATES: | ORIGIN: | MOVEMENT: |
| Michelangelo Buonarroti | 1475-1564, aged 88 | Italian painter/sculptor | High Renaissance |
| LOCATION: | SIZE (cms): | [1322-11] | |
| Uffizi Gallery, Florence Italy | 120 (dia) |
 Image source: wikimedia commons |  Image source: wikimedia commons |
| These portraits were painted while Raphael was studying Da Vinci’s style. It is said that the composition, the pose and the serenity resembles Mona Lisa. A key moment in Raphael’s maturing into a High Renaissance master. | The Uffizi Gallery suggests the backgrounds depict ‘the Flood and Deucalion and Pyrrha’. He was son to Prometheus, who warned him of the flood so that he built an ark. Pyrha was his wife, who bore Zeus a son called Hellen, patriarch of the Hellenes, aka Greeks. |
| TITLE: | YEAR: | FORM: | GENRE: |
| Portraits of Agnolo and Maddalena Doni (née Strozzi) | 1504-7 | Oil/Panel | Portrait |
| ARTIST: | DATES: | ORIGIN: | MOVEMENT: |
| Raphael (Raffaello Sanzio da Urbino) | 1483-1520, aged 37 | Italian painter/sculptor | High Renaissance |
| LOCATION: | SIZE (cms): | [1322-12] | |
| Palazzo Pitti, Florence Italy | 63 x 45 |
| This was only formally attributed to Raphael in 1991, La Madonna dei garofani, means the Madonna of the carnation, a Christian symbol forecasting Christ’s passion. Raphael’s uncommon use of greens (using malachite and verdigris) and blues (azurite and ultramarine) links the subject to the landscape. However the window shows no verdant landscape, but instead a ruined building to symbolise the fall of paganism by the birth of Jesus. |  Image source: nationalgallery.org.uk |
| TITLE: | YEAR: | FORM: | GENRE: |
| Madonna of the Pinks (Carnations) | 1507 | Oil/Yew | History Painting |
| ARTIST: | DATES: | ORIGIN: | MOVEMENT: |
| Raphael (Raffaello Sanzio da Urbino) | 1483-1520, aged 37 | Italian painter | High Renaissance |
| LOCATION: | SIZE (cms): | [1322-13] | |
| National Gallery, London UK | 28 x 22 |
 Image source: wikimedia commons |
| This large chapel was built by Pope Sixtus IV (1477-80) within the Apostolic Palace, the official residence of the Pope. It is used for Papal enclaves and elections. Michelangelo was commissioned by Pope Julius II to paint the ceiling and sanctuary wall. The chapel also has wall paintings by Botticelli, Ghirlandaio and Perugino, and has tapestries by Raphael. The ceiling shows nine scenes based upon the book of Genesis, The Creation of Adam (see below) being the most famous. The Sanctuary wall has the fresco The Last Judgement (see below). Michelangelo was a sculptor though he had painted some panels, but had no direct fresco experience before this commission. The work took him four years much of it perched atop a 30m high scaffold. |
| TITLE: | YEAR: | FORM: | GENRE: |
| Sistine Chapel ceiling and altar wall frescoes | 1508-1541 | Fresco | History Painting |
| ARTIST: | DATES: | ORIGIN: | MOVEMENT: |
| Michelangelo Buonarroti | 1475-1564, aged 88 | Italian painter/sculptor | High Renaissance |
| LOCATION: | SIZE (cms): | [1322-14] | |
| Sistine Chapel, St Peter’s Basilica, Vatican City |
 Image source: wikimedia commons |
| The Sistine Chapel ceiling is termed Genesis because it depicts nine scenes taken from the Old Testament book. The first three present The Creation, the next three show Adam and Eve’s creation and fall, the last three are of Noah and the Flood. The Creation of Adam (see below) has become the most famous. |
| TITLE: | YEAR: | FORM: | GENRE: |
| Genesis (Sistine Chapel ceiling) | 1508-1512 | Fresco | History Painting |
| ARTIST: | DATES: | ORIGIN: | MOVEMENT: |
| Michelangelo Buonarroti | 1475-1564, aged 88 | Italian painter/sculptor | High Renaissance |
| LOCATION: | SIZE (cms): | [1322-15] | |
| Sistine Chapel, St Peter’s Basilica, Vatican City | 4000 x 13000 |
 Image source: wikimedia commons | Raphael, at twenty-five, was summoned by Pope Julius II to decorate the Papal Apartments. In the room used by the Pope as a library Raphael painted (1509-11) this fresco Scuola di Atene; he decorated three further rooms The Raphael Rooms. It is ranked as one of the top Renaissance paintings for its synthesis of Greek (ie Pagan) and Christian thinking. Plato (holding his Timaeus) and Aristotle (holding Ethics) stand at the centre. Many philosophers are featured including Pythagoras, Ptolemy and Zaroaster. Two backgroud sculptures are Apollo and Minerva (aka Athena). Looking outward is a self-portrait of Raphael, standing next to Ptolemy. The building has a cruciform shape and resembles, the then freshly completed, St Peter’s Basilica. London’s V&A has a large version of the work, painted by Mengs in 1755. |
| TITLE: | YEAR: | FORM: | GENRE: |
| School of Athens, The | 1509-11 | Fresco | History Painting |
| ARTIST: | DATES: | ORIGIN: | MOVEMENT: |
| Raphael (Raffaello Sanzio da Urbino) | 1483-1520, aged 37 | Italian painter | High Renaissance |
| LOCATION: | SIZE (cms): | [1322-16] | |
| Raphael Rooms, Vatican Palace, Vatican City | 500 x 770 |
| The nine Genesis pictures featured some three hundred characters, but none quite captured the imaginatiom as much as the central work, with Adam reaching out his hand to receive the spark of life directly from God. It is the fourth scene of the nine, but one of the last to be completed. God is shown to be horizontally surrounded by angels, the first time God was presented in this attitude. God’s arm circles an unidentified female, surmised as Eve awaiting incorporation. |  Image source: wikimedia commons |
| TITLE: | YEAR: | FORM: | GENRE: |
| Creation of Adam, The (Sistine Chapel) | 1511-12 | Fresco | History Painting |
| ARTIST: | DATES: | ORIGIN: | MOVEMENT: |
| Michelangelo Buonarroti | 1475-1564, aged 88 | Italian painter/sculptor | High Renaissance |
| LOCATION: | SIZE (cms): | [1322-17] | |
| Sistine Chapel, St Peter’s Basilica, Vatican City | 280 x 570 |
 Image source: wikimedia commons | Michelangelo sculpted four slaves for the tomb of Pope Julius II. These are in the Accademia di Belle Arti in Florence. They are unfinished because Michelangelo moved off to paint the Sistine Chapel. But the works are still powerful.  Image source: accademia.org Two further Michelangelo slaves exist, the Dying Slave and the Rebellious Slave, these are both are in the Louvre. These were intended for a revision to the tomb of Pope Julius II, after finishing the Sistine Chapel. They were planned to sit either side of a Moses. Michelangelo is said to have given them to Roberto Strozzi in return for his hospitality. Strozzi was living in exile in Lyons, and in turn he presented them to King Francis I of France. They were formally purchased for the French State in 1794. A series of fourteen copies of the Dying Slave sit atop the 12th arrondissement Paris police station. |
| TITLE: | YEAR: | FORM: | GENRE: |
| Dying Slave | 1513-1516 | Marble | Sculpture |
| ARTIST: | DATES: | ORIGIN: | MOVEMENT: |
| Michelangelo Buonarroti | 1475-1564, aged 88 | Italian painter/sculptor | High Renaissance |
| LOCATION: | SIZE (cms): | [1322-18] | |
| Musée du Louvre, Paris France | 215 (h) |
| This was commissioned by Pope Julius II for San Sisto Benedictine church in Piacenza. It was purchased by Augustus III of Poland and moved to Dresden in 1754. After WWII, the painting was found in a tunnel by the liberating Red Army. It was moved to Russia and displayed at the Pushkin Museum. Following the death of Stalin it was returned to Dresden. It has been very influential upon German and Russian painters. A vision of the Madonna and baby Jesus appears in clouds to St Sixtus (aka Pope Sixtus II) and St Barbara (Lebanese/ Greek martyr), The pair are surrounded by a host of obscured and two clear putti (not to be confused with cherubs). One story has it that these two were the children of Raphael’s models who would sit and watch him painting. Another tale is that he saw these two staring like this into a baker’s shop. Whatever the truth of that, these two have helped sell postcards and other items, and appeared on postage stamps. |  Image source: wikimedia commons |
| TITLE: | YEAR: | FORM: | GENRE: |
| Sistine Madonna, The | 1513-1514 | Oil/Cnv | History Painting |
| ARTIST: | DATES: | ORIGIN: | MOVEMENT: |
| Raphael (Raffaello Sanzio da Urbino) | 1483-1520, aged 37 | Italian painter | High Renaissance |
| LOCATION: | SIZE (cms): | [1322-19] | |
| Old Masters Picture Gallery, Dresden Germany | 265 x 196 |
 Image source: wikimedia commons | Portrait of a Young Man by Raphael is often thought to be a self-portrait. During the Second World War the painting was stolen by Nazis from Poland. Many historians regard it as the most important painting missing since World War II. |
| TITLE: | YEAR: | FORM: | GENRE: |
| Young Man, Portrait of a (Self Portrait?) | 1513-4 | Oil/Cnv | Portrait |
| ARTIST: | DATES: | ORIGIN: | MOVEMENT: |
| Raphael (Raffaello Sanzio da Urbino) | 1483-1520, aged 37 | Italian painter | High Renaissance |
| LOCATION: | SIZE (cms): | [1322-20] | |
| Unknown (since 1945) | 72 x 56 |
| Castiglione was an Italian courtier, diplomat and author. He met Raphael when they were both in Urbino, and refreshed their friendship when Castiglione became Urbino’s ambassador in Rome. Raphael was commissioned to paint a portrait of England’s Henry VII in 1505. It was Catiglione who travelled to England and presented the portrait to the King. It is suggested that Castiglione advised Raphael as he painted the 1509-11 School of Athens. Raphael’s work in the Vatican took up much of his time, but he made time for portraits like this one, though at the peak of his acclaim it may have also involved Raphael’s assistants. Castiglione was often travelling and wrote a poem that suggested his family could take solace from vieiwing the portrait. It is suggested that Raphael captured his humane and sensitive character. Raphael had an easy style, pursuing sprezzatura applying an apparent effortlessness, this was something Castiglione advocated in his later book (see below). There is a plain background and a triangular shape to the subject. By cropping the hands the focus is set on his face, which looks directly from the canvas. A decade after the portrait Castiglionebecame a nuncio for Pope Benedict VII in Charles V’s court accompanying it to Toledo, Seville and Granada. In 1528 he published (in Venice) Il Cortegiano or The Book of the Courtier, setting out the etiquette and morals of sixteenth-century court life. In it he advocated fine manners and understated dress – as in the portrait. Though the grey squirrel fur doublet is not simple fare. He died of the plague in 1529. |  Image source: wikimedia commons |
| TITLE: | YEAR: | FORM: | GENRE: |
| Baldassar Castiglione, Portrait of | 1514-15 | Oil/Canvas | Portrait |
| ARTIST: | DATES: | ORIGIN: | MOVEMENT: |
| Raphael (Raffaello Sanzio da Urbino) | 1483-1520, aged 37 | Italian painter | High Renaissance |
| LOCATION: | SIZE (cms): | [1322-21] | |
| Musée du Louvre, Paris France | 82 x 67 |
 Image source: historytoday.com | The Villa Farnesina was built for Agostini Chigi, a Siennese banker and perhaps the richest man of his age. The Farnese family acquired it later and commissioned this work for th villa’s open gallery. Galatea was a Greek mythological nereid or sea nymph, her name meaning ‘she who is milk white’. She, said to be the most beautiful of the fifty nereids, who accompanied Poseidon, god of the sea, and often proved helpful to sailors. Ovid’s Metamorphoses mentions her love of Acis, a mortal shepherd. A rival suitor, the Cyclops Polyphemus, discovered them together and killed Acis with a boulder (or pillar). The fresco shows the turmoil after discovery, with a series of sea creatures including tritons. Galatea is on a chariot pulled by two dolphins. Undaunted, she later transformed Acis into an immortal river spirit. One mystery is that there is evidence that Raphael used ‘Egyptian blue’ pigment for the sea and sky, a pigment that had been replaced by lapis lazuli after the Fall of the Roman Empire. |
| TITLE: | YEAR: | FORM: | GENRE: |
| Triumph of Galatea | c1514 | Fresco | History Painting |
| ARTIST: | DATES: | ORIGIN: | MOVEMENT: |
| Raphael (Raffaello Sanzio da Urbino) | 1483-1520, aged 37 | Italian painter | High Renaissance |
| LOCATION: | SIZE (cms): | [1322-22] | |
| Villa Farnesina, Rome Italy | 295 x 225 |
| This was Raphael’s last painting. For four centuries it was acclaimed as the most famous painting in the world. It was commissioned by Cardinal Giuilo de Medici (later Pope Clement VII) when he was appointed to the legation of Bologna, which included the archbishopric of Narbonne France. He then commisioned two painings for Narbonne Cathedral, this one and Sebastiano del Piombo’s The Raising of Lazarus. There appears to have been an element of competition between the two artists. Perhaps for this reason, the painting has both the transfiguration, Christ flanked by Moses and Elijah, and the disciples trying to heal a possessed boy; thus including the human and spiritual from of Christ. Modern inspection shows many altered and unfinished areas. Raphael died on 6th April 1520, Good Friday, and this painting was placed at the head of his catafalque in his house for several days. He was later interred at the Pantheon. The painting did not go to France, the Pope giving it to San Pietro church in Montorio, Rome. During Napoleon’s 1797 campaign, his troops seized it for the Louvre; which had opened in 1793 as the Musée Central des Arts. It was repatriated in 1815. |  Image source: wikimedia commons |
| TITLE: | YEAR: | FORM: | GENRE: |
| Transfiguration, The | 1516-1520 | Tempera/Wood | History Painting |
| ARTIST: | DATES: | ORIGIN: | MOVEMENT: |
| Raphael (Raffaello Sanzio da Urbino) | 1483-1520, aged 37 | Italian painter | High Renaissance |
| LOCATION: | SIZE (cms): | [1322-23] | |
| Pinacoteca Apostolica, Vatican City | 405 x 278 |
 Image source: wikimedia commons | Pope Leo X was son to Lorenzo de’ Medici. He was known for hedonism and is quoted as saying ‘Since God has given us the papacy, let us enjoy it’. To his left is Giulio di Giuliano de’ Medici, later Pope Clement VII. To his right is (probably) his cousin Luigi de’ Rossi. Both were illegitimate. Luigi would die of gout in 1519, he looks directly from the picture, and intriguingly has both hands on the Pope’s chair. This was painted shortly after Martin Luther had challenged the Catholic Church. This may have inspired Raphael to show the Pope and his cardinals with some realism. Richly dressed some suggest that the Pope is carrying a middle-age spread and is short-of-sight and thus straining his eyes. The ball on his chair is a Medici reference, the open Bible has been identified as the Hamilton Bible. a 1350 illuminated Bible from Naples. |
| TITLE: | YEAR: | FORM: | GENRE: |
| Pope Leo X with Cardinals | 1517 | Oil/Wood | Portrait |
| ARTIST: | DATES: | ORIGIN: | MOVEMENT: |
| Raphael (Raffaello Sanzio da Urbino) | 1483-1520, aged 37 | Italian painter | High Renaissance |
| LOCATION: | SIZE (cms): | [1322-24] | |
| Uffizi Gallery, Florence Italy | 154 x 119 |
| Little is published about this drawing although the subject has similarities to one of the subjects used in Raphael’s Studies of Two Apostles in preparation for the Transfiguration, held at the Ashmolean Oxford UK. |  Image source: wikimedia commons |
| TITLE: | YEAR: | FORM: | GENRE: |
| Chalk Study of a Man’s Head and Hand | 1518-9 | Black chalk | Sketch |
| ARTIST: | DATES: | ORIGIN: | MOVEMENT: |
| Raphael (Raffaello Sanzio da Urbino) | 1483-1520, aged 37 | Italian painter | High Renaissance |
| LOCATION: | SIZE (cms): | [1322-25] | |
| Private collection |
 Image source: wikimedia commons | This statue was commissioned by Metello Vari, a Roman patrician. His aunt had obligated her heirs to build a chapel dedicated to her at the church. He specified only that the nude Christ should be holding the Cross. Work was delayed when Michelangelo discovered a black vein in the original marble block and had to start afresh with a new block. However Vari took the rough unfinished first version for use in his garden. It was later finished by another artist. Known as the Giustiniani Christ, the black vein is clearly visible on Christ’s face. It remained outside Rome through occupation by Napoleon and WWII Germans, neither of them considered looting it. Now under pressure to meet the commission’s deadline, Michelangelo entrusted some of the work to an apprentice, who damaged the work, and was quickly replaced. Cristo della Minerva is displayed to the left of the church’s altar. |
| TITLE: | YEAR: | FORM: | GENRE: |
| Risen Christ, The | 1519-21 | Marble | Sculpture |
| ARTIST: | DATES: | ORIGIN: | MOVEMENT: |
| Michelangelo Buonarroti | 1475-1564, aged 88 | Italian painter/sculptor | High Renaissance |
| LOCATION: | SIZE (cms): | [1322-26] | |
| St Maria Sopra Minerva Basilica, Rome Italy | 37 x 22 |
| This fresco was painted in the refectory of the abbey. Naturally many compare this work with Da Vinci’s, and it may be that del Sarto had seen Leonardo’s work, and others, before starting this. del Sarto depicts the moment that Christ announces that he will be betrayed, Peter looks on sternly, John the Evangelist looks startled, and several disciples stand in surprise. One standing is surmised to be Doubting Thomas, he is touching the shoulders of two other disciples, signifying his need to touch to believe. Christ identified the betrayer as the one who would dip bread with him. Judas, who sits beside Christ, and is reaching for the bread, points to himself as innocent. |  Image source: wikimedia commons |
| TITLE: | YEAR: | FORM: | GENRE: |
| Last Supper of San Salvi (Cenacolo of San Salvi) | 1519-1527 | Fresco | History Painting |
| ARTIST: | DATES: | ORIGIN: | MOVEMENT: |
| Del Sarto, Andrea | 1486-1530, aged 43 | Italian painter Florence | High Renaissance |
| LOCATION: | SIZE (cms): | [1322-27] | |
| San Salvi, Florence, Italy |
 Image source: khanacademy.org | This dome fresco was commissioned by the citizens of Parma, to celebrate its liberation from the French. Mary rejoins her son, and the fresco features the four patron saints of Parma, St John the Baptist, St Hilary, St Bernard and St Thomas. The Apostles are shown, as are Adam and Eve, Judith and Holofernes… They spread around them in a trompe l’oeil vortex. Correggio regularly used sfumato, quadratura and sotto in su to create illusion. This approach that has subjects seem to extend out into the viewers’ space was original at the time, and became a standard in the Baroque period. |
| TITLE: | YEAR: | FORM: | GENRE: |
| Assumption of the Virgin, The | 1524-30 | Fresco | History Painting |
| ARTIST: | DATES: | ORIGIN: | MOVEMENT: |
| Correggio, Antonio Allegri | c1490-1534, aged 44 | Italian painter Parma | High Renaissance |
| LOCATION: | SIZE (cms): | [1322-28] | |
| Duomo di Parma, Parma Italy | 1100 x 1200 |
| This was commissioned by the Parma noble Placido Del Bono for San Giovanni Evangelista church. Also known as Deposition, this is the moment that Christ’s body is taken down from the Cross. Statues of this moment are termed as a Pietà. He is mourned by John, the Virgin Mary and Mary Magdalene. Nicodemus holds the ladder and pincers used to remove Christ’s nails. |  Image source: wikimedia commons |
| TITLE: | YEAR: | FORM: | GENRE: |
| Lamentation (Deposition) | 1524-5 | Oil/Canvas | History Painting |
| ARTIST: | DATES: | ORIGIN: | MOVEMENT: |
| Correggio, Antonio Allegri | c1490-1534, aged 44 | Italian painter Parma | High Renaissance |
| LOCATION: | SIZE (cms): | [1322-29] | |
| Galleria Nazionale, Parma Italy | 157 x 182 |
| Correggio’s series of ‘Jupiter’s Loves’ followed on from the success of his Venus and Cupid with a Satyr. This tale inspired by Ovid’s Metamorphoses has Io, daughter of Inachus, king of Argos seduced by Jupiter (aka Zeus in Greek). Io is shown sensually pulling Jupiter’s immaterial, and rather smoky hand, towards herself. |  Image source: Wikimedia commons |
| TITLE: | YEAR: | FORM: | GENRE: |
| Jupiter and Io | 1531-2 | Oil/Canvas | History Painting |
| ARTIST: | DATES: | ORIGIN: | MOVEMENT: |
| Correggio, Antonio Allegri | c1490-1534, aged 44 | Italian painter Parma | High Renaissance |
| LOCATION: | SIZE (cms): | [1322-30] | |
| Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna | 164 x 71 |
 Image source: wikimedia commons | It is suggested that Correggio had seen Michelangelo’s work on the subject, though this tempera on canvas is lost to us, though this copy exists in the National Gallery. Correggio’s planned a series of paintings depicting Jupiter’s amorous adventures. His version shows three scenes of Jupiter’s seduction of Leda. Their meeting to the right, their love-making in the centre and its aftermath to the left. While in Philippe II, Duke of Orléans, collection his son Louis believed it to be too degenerate and attacked Leda’s face with a knife. Reworked three times, the new head of Leda has a chaste expression and removes the ecstatic twist of her head of the original. |
| TITLE: | YEAR: | FORM: | GENRE: |
| Leda and the Swan | 1530-1 | Oil/Cnv | History Painting |
| ARTIST: | DATES: | ORIGIN: | MOVEMENT: |
| Correggio, Antonio Allegri | c1490-1534, aged 44 | Italian painter Parma | High Renaissance |
| LOCATION: | SIZE (cms): | [1322-31] | |
| Gemäldegalerie, Berlin Germany | 191 x 152 |
| See above discussions of Michelangelo’s other Sistine Chapel works. The chapel was prone to crackin, as it was built on sandy soil. One Swiss Guard escorting the Pope was killed when the doorway lintel cracked and fell on him. This was twenty-five years after Michelangelo had finished painting the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel. He would be 66 when he finished this wall. The traditional location of a Last Judgement fresco is the West Wall, but this is on the East (Altar) Wall, and it involved much destruction of prior paintings. The fresco depicts the Second Coming of Christ. Christ and his Mother sit at the centre as they judge the legion of dead. Christ looks down on the Damned, Mary regards the Saved. It shows the dead rising or falling based upon God’s judgement of their lives. Some 300 figures are featured, mostly male and most are nude. The work attracted religious and artistic criticism. For example, some of the nude angels were over-painted with draperies. |  Image source: wga.hu |
| TITLE: | YEAR: | FORM: | GENRE: |
| Last Judgement (Sistine Chapel) | 1536-41 | Fresco | History Painting |
| ARTIST: | DATES: | ORIGIN: | MOVEMENT: |
| Michelangelo Buonarroti | 1475-1564, aged 88 | Italian painter/sculptor | High Renaissance |
| LOCATION: | SIZE (cms): | ||
| Sistine Chapel, St Peter’s Basilica, Vatican City | 1370 x 1200 |
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