High Renaissance, Part 4

Question 1: Discuss Raphael’s Transfiguration.

Answer 1: Raphael created his last great work, the Transfiguration, in 1515. It was painted on a set of tapestries hung inside the Sistine Chapel and was heavily influenced by Michelangelo’s paintings on its ceiling. The Transfiguration illustrates the New Testament story in which the disciples fail to heal a little boy and must call upon Jesus to do so. The work is most celebrated for its dramatic use of lighting to create natural and supernatural effects and to contrast human and divine figures. In the upper portion of the painting, Christ floats in the air and radiates light that illuminates the people directly beneath Him. Meanwhile, in the lower portion of the painting, a group of people, including the sick child, are cast into shadow.

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Question 2: Discuss Raphael’s Triumph of Galatea.

Answer 2: The Triumph of Galatea was Raphael’s first major secular work. Painted in 1511, it is located in the Sala di Galatea at the Villa Farnesina, a court decorated and designed in Pagan style. The work recounts the story of the goddess Galatea and the object of her love, Acis. Upon his death, she turns him into a river, into which she descends. The work borrows heavily from Botticelli’s Birth of Venus while simultaneously reversing many of its characteristics. For instance, Galatea is in the act of twisting and contorting her body as she prepares to hurl herself into the river. Conversely, Venus is emerging from the water, her movements calm and restrained. Nude female forms dominate both works, but Galatea is far more sensuous and fantastical in its composition. Raphael uses forms and color that give the work a light, amusing feel. The figure of Galatea mirrors the fleshy and perfectly proportioned Venuses of antiquity. Raphael likely painted the work for the private viewing and contemplation of its patron.

Question 3: Discuss Raphael’s Cupid and Psyche.

Answer 3: Raphael’s Cupid and Psyche, painted in 1518, are part of the Loggia di Psyche at the Villa Farnesina (where Raphael also painted Triumph of Galatea). His assistant Giulio Romano completed much of the work, but Raphael created extensive drawings that his assistants followed, and likely painted the key figures himself. Like Galatea, Cupid and Psyche is a secular work created solely for decorative purposes. However, it presents an innovative solution to the problem of depicting narratives on ceilings: Raphael divides the ceiling into sections, each of which includes a scene from the Cupid and Psyche narrative. Each section of the narrative is surrounded and separated by pictures of greenery, flowers, and fruits, as if the ceiling were a floating garden in which the story is unfolding.

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