Raphael and Siena
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Fqs,reHAffiL&rum s$m$\A &,u zocs] On theoccasion of theopenlng of theBaphael exhibition at theNatlonal Gallery, Lonoon, -i: :t:,t:i;':,*'t':: i. one of ts curatorsexamines the evidencefor a negected aspect of the artist career,his connections with Siena, and in particularMonteoliveto Maggiore Enea Silvio Crowned Poet It is twenty year:ssince the illustratedas Fig. 1) were cornmissioned Raphaelalso provided drawings Laureate by Frederick til by quincentennaryof Raphaclt birth was in June 1502 by CardinalFrancesco anotherwork of Pir-rtoricchio'sin the Pintoricchio (c. 1454-1 513), c. 1 503- 1504. Fresco, celebratedwith a seriesof exhibitions Piccolomini,archbishop of Sienaancl sarneperiod (the Coronationctf the Piccolomini Library Duomo, and conferences.A greatdeal of new (briefly)Pope Pius ur.+ According to Virgin, now in the PinacotecaVaticar Siena. Photo: Bridgeman An researchwas publishedthen, and more Vasari, Pintoricchio brougl-rtthe young and originally paintedfor Frarta Library 'where hasbeen edded irr recent yeers - in Santito Siena Raphaelmade for Perugirra,nr,r.lern day Umhertidc. Four standing soldiers by particularthe posthr-rmouspublicatiotr of him somedrawings and somecartoor-rs' 1502-1-503),and he may havebeen Raphael (1483-1 520), c. I 503. John SI'rearman'smagisrerial collection for the PiccolominiLibrrry. involved in a tl'rirdcollaboration: a lc Metalpoint on prepared paper, of docun-rentsrelating 21 -3 x 22.3 cm. Ashmolean to Raphael'slife At leastfive drawingsby him can be altzrrpiecefor Filippo Sergardi'schapr Museum, Oxford and work.' Therehas not, however,been relatedto this project:a sketchancl a in thc church of S Francesco,Siena. Ir any very significantattempt to synthesise worked-up modello for The jcturney of the very early nineteenthcerrrurp this n-raterialinto a new account Th s article has benefitted lrom the of the Enea SiluioPiccoktmini to Basle(boi't various sourcesrefer to Raphaelhavi generosity of John Shearman, to Raphael'scareer, and the forthcoming Uffizi, Florence); a modello lor rhe pairrtedthe preclellaof an altarpiecet whose memory t is ded cated, and exhibition Ph ppa Jackson. am gratefu to at the Nati<xralGallery, Betrothal of Fredericktrr and Eleanora was commissionedfronr Pintoricchio tfrem both London ('Raphael:flom Urbino to of Toledo (PierpontMorgan Library, by Sergardifor his chapel(dedicated For the exh btions of 1983-84 see J. Shearfran, Raphae Year: Rome') offersa timely opportunity to New York); variousstudies for stancling to the Birth of tl.reVirgin Mary) in Exh btions of Pa nt ngs and reassessa,rt least the first ten yearsof the putti (Mvs6.edu Louvre, Pans; S Francesco,Siena.' Both Rapl'rael's DGvt rgs , The Bulingtou Magzne. vo. cx/, no. 976 (Juy 1984),pp. artist'.sactivity.' AshmoleanMuseum, Oxford); and a aurog,rapJrreceipt for rllonir'\receivc( 398-403 The same authors magnum Pi,rrtof this reassessrnentinvolves sketchfor Enea apus lRaplnel in Eaty Madern Silub crowned Poet for this picture (which could, of cor,rr Sourcs 1183-1ff,2, renouncingconvenient labels for periods Lattreateby lrederick ur (Fig.2, have been:rlater forgery),and the New Haven and London. 2003) has a of activity.Exarnination mon!mental b b ography for Raphael of Raphaelt di'cussedbclowl.' The dcc,'ratiorrscerns picture itself,:rre lost. Nevertheless,tl stud es careerfrom 1.504to 150[Jdemonstrates to havebeen well advancedby February picturecertainly existed (it was refer:r H. Chapmaf, T. Henry and how C. Pl%atia Raphael. fram Urbino to unsatisfactoryit is to labelthese 1504, and Raphael'sinvolvernenr to in 1.513by SigismondoTizio), and 'Florentine Fome, exh. cat Natona Gallery yearsas his Periocl'.Similarly, probably occul:redduring the winter is perfectlyplausible that Rapl.rael Londof, 2004 2005 an, G Vasarl,Le Y/te depi Eccellenti althoughUmbria and tl-reMarche were of 1502-1503(or at leastby the end Prrrtorieehr,re,'llaborate.l in it: Plttori. Scultari et Architettati nelle the focusof his activity from 1.500to of 1503). - redazianide 155A e 1568 R. Betlarini cxccurion cs|ecirllyif rhepierure r,r and P Barocch (eds.) Florence. 1505,he wasalso to be foundin ' i #,, 1966 87. vo. iv,p 159: avendoeg Tuscrnyin period, jrr'r :1 4 thi' nor in ..'l lRaphae] acquistato fama *#:.1,.s grandssimane s guto di que a Florence,but alsoin Siena.This article ,t' man era lPerug no], era stato a ogato j discussessome uncler-utilised evidence da P o Secondo ponteice la librera ri. de duofro di Sena a Pnturcchio ,d' for Raphacl'sactivity in the territorio .+ quale. essendo amlco d Raffae o e conoscendoo ottmo dsegnatore o senese,and arguesthat his activity in (or condusse a Sena. dove Raifaellog for) Sier-rahas been underestimated. lece acuni disegn e cadonl d que opera. I when he had acq!red very great fame by fo owng his li.rri:ir;ltlrrrrrl Piriolii'ihir; masters manner, Pope Pus [r]had g ven the comm sson for pa nt ng the The eviderrcefor Raplrael'spre\ence in brary ofthe Dlomo at Siena to Sienaexists in some Pntoriccho;and he beinga frend ol of the most obvious Raphae and knowng him to bean places,but has beenovershadowed by excellent draughtsman. brought h n to Siena where Raphael made lor h rt the desireIo \ce rheartisr as progrcssing some of the drawngs and cartoons neatlyfrom the Marche, to Umbria, anci for that workl. See K. Oberhuber Raphae and then to Flolenceand Rome.Vasari Pintoricchio , ,qaphaelbefore Rome, discr-rssesRaphael's work with StLtdiesin the Histary olAd vo [, 1986,pp. 1s5 72 Pintoricchioin Siena,'andmost scholars n the Lile P ol ntorcch o Vasar states: now acceptthat the youngerartlst ,t !. lr'lat ben vero che gli schizi e i artant dt tutte ]e statie che egli vi fqe, playeda role in designingthe fresco li turono di mano di Raffael/o lvasari, decorarionof thePiecolomini Lihrary op. ct., vo. , pp.571 72).L l s true lndeed, that the sketches and (which opensoff the naveof the #' *,, cadoons lor al the scenes that he r'athedralin r. panted were by the hand of Raphael I. Sicna Thc'e frer.oeslone Vasafl ends authority to hS account scenefrom which - Enea Siluictcrowned by add ng that he had seef a survlvng cartoon lor the frescoes n S ena, and Poet Lduredte by Frederick ttt - is Raphael and Siena executeclonto a separatcpiece of papel, St Benedict welcoming which hasbeen glued to theprincipal Maurus and Placidus into the Bened icti ne ord er attributed folio. The drawing has beensquarcd in to Raphael 0 483-1520), blackchalk; eaclr square measures 2.2 c. 1502-1 503. Pen and ink cm and the grid that they establishis 1.5 and wash over black chalk on paper, 36.8 x 41.3 cm. and 18 squareswide. squarestall Private collection, New York \ilhen the drawing was sold at Christie'sin l.oncft>nin 1988 its subject St Benedict welcoming Maurus and Placidus into the was identifieclas the encolrnter:of Pir-rs "tl;': Benedictine ordet by ll :;i' tt with the Antipopc Felix,ancl relatcd Sodoma (1477-1 549), :1. 'u' ; to Pintoricchio'sfrcscoes ir-r the c.1505-1506.Fresco. .:. tt, Ee' l. ;. Monteoliveto Maggiore. Piccolomir-riLibrary in Siena."ln fact &M 1i Photo: O 2004, Scala, the drawingcertainly rcpresents S/ Florence, by courtesy of the ' u ' Benedictwelcoming Maunrs and Ministero Beni e Att. Culturali "s'r* Placidttsittto the Benedictirrccn'der," )ft"!{ , li. ;:t he himsel severa reated J ..-/'; and it is strikir.rglysimilar to Sodoma's thal owned sketches by Raphael. , ,.,'' (Fig. , ,t{'i versionof this relativelyrare scene P Joann des. The Dt€twilgs af 4) in the greatcloister of tl-remother Raphael vltth a Catnplete Catalague, Los Angeles and Oxford, 1983 ros. "'L .-,'].. houseof the Olivetansat Monteoliveto 56 6T. These drawingshave Maggiore,near Siena.'' sonret mes been attrbuted to P ntorlcch o, but Rapliaels althorsh p This cloister is painteclwith thirt,v is attested to by tfre presence ol hs handwrt fg on two ol lhem (seeJ six scenesfrom thc life of St Beneclict. Shearman, Faphaei in Ealy Ma.Jen contemporaryrvith thc ea-rrlystages of New York (havingpreviously been on Luca Signorellistarted the decorative Saurces 1483 7602 Neu/ Haven anc London,2003, pp. 75 77)aswel as the decorationof thc Piccolon'rini loan to the FoggArt Museumsztt schcmewith nine lunetteson the west by styl st c afays s pa Librar,v. Harvard). Although weak, and siJcof rhesloi:ter. Hi' :rctivityc.tn PLntorccho was d for thrs " alarpiece. v/h ch s nou/ in the Muse darnaged,the drawinghas been probablybe datecl c.1498-99, Vatcan loberhuber.op clt. lrg 121 | June 1503 (wth tna paymentsn .\ I l,r rtlr ;i ili:i1 :..i:r gll{}i'l' convincinglyattributed to Raphaelby althoughKanter d:rteshis last frescoes 1505 seeAfch/vio storica dell atle, ln rvhat follows I do not ir-rtendto Oberhuber,.foannidesand others;and, thereto a secondcan'rpaign in c. 1-502- 1890.pp.465 66) Seenowtheiew tJ7hether returnedto d scoveres of P Scarpel n and t\,4B. discussthe evidenccfor Raphael's having str-rdieclit in New Y<rrk,I i'rgree 1503.'' Signorelli Silvestre P/rlotccilp, Mlan, 2004 (fascinating)collaborations witl-r u ith thir ilssc\snrcnt.e\peeidll) for the Monteoliveto or not, he did not fir-rish pp. 227 30. Drawings n the Louvre demoistrate that Raphae desgned Pintoricchio.Instead I w:rnt to consider principal figures(althougl.r the condition the cycle(which was completedby the two foreground sants lJoann des, other:cvidence for l-risactivity in, for and of the sheetprecludes a firn'rview). The Sodomabetween August 150-5:rnd op ct , nos.60 61). ] See Shearman.op. ct. n n.6 above, nearbySicna in the first decadeof thc clrawingmeasures 36.8 x 41.3 cm and is August 1.508).'jThe first frescoto bc pp 77 79. The filst pieceof executedirr pen and ir-rkovcr black prirrtedin Sod.nl:l'5crntpaign rve' ) See L Plngileon.