{"id":114797,"date":"2025-09-02T18:04:15","date_gmt":"2025-09-02T18:04:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/114797\/"},"modified":"2025-09-02T18:04:15","modified_gmt":"2025-09-02T18:04:15","slug":"how-raphael-became-a-master-watch-the-evolution-of-the-artist-through-his-madonna-paintings","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/114797\/","title":{"rendered":"How Raphael Became A Master: Watch the Evolution of the Artist Through His Madonna Paintings"},"content":{"rendered":"<\/p>\n

No artist became a Renais\u00adsance mas\u00adter through a sin\u00adgle piece of work, though now, half a mil\u00adlen\u00adni\u00adum lat\u00ader, that may be how most of us iden\u00adti\u00adfy them. Leonar\u00addo? Painter of the Mona Lisa<\/a>. Michelan\u00adge\u00adlo? Painter of the Sis\u00adtine Chapel ceil\u00ading<\/a> (or, per\u00adhaps, the sculp\u00adtor of the most famous David<\/a>, depend\u00ading on your medi\u00adum of choice). Raphael<\/a>? Painter of The School of Athens, as\u00a0recent\u00adly fea\u00adtured here on Open Cul\u00adture<\/a>. Raphael paint\u00aded that mas\u00adter\u00adwork in Vat\u00adi\u00adcan City\u2019s Apos\u00adtolic Palace between the years 1509 and 1511, when he was in his mid-twen\u00adties. Under\u00adstand\u00ading how he could have attained that lev\u00adel of skill by that age requires exam\u00adin\u00ading his oth\u00ader work, as Evan Puschak, bet\u00adter known as the Nerd\u00adwriter, does in the new video above<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Specif\u00adi\u00adcal\u00adly, Puschak exam\u00adines Raphael\u2019s Madon\u00adnas, a sub\u00adject to which he returned over and over again through\u00adout the course of his short but pro\u00adduc\u00adtive career. In what seems to have been his first ren\u00addi\u00adtion of Mary and her holy son, Puschak says, \u201cyou can see that Raphael has a bet\u00adter sense of three-dimen\u00adsion\u00adal bod\u00adies and how to make them feel like they\u2019re part of the space that they\u2019re in\u201d than his father, who\u2019d been a well-regard\u00aded painter him\u00adself, or even than Piero del\u00adla Francesca<\/a>, from whom his father learned.<\/p>\n

\u201cYet the paint\u00ading also suf\u00adfers from \u201can awk\u00adward\u00adness in the arrange\u00adment of the fig\u00adures,\u201d as well as a lack of \u201cemo\u00adtion, rela\u00adtion\u00adships, or any sense of nar\u00adra\u00adtive\u201d \u2014 much like \u201ca thou\u00adsand oth\u00ader Madon\u00adnas that came before.\u201d<\/p>\n

Yet Raphael was a quick study, a trait reflect\u00aded in the devel\u00adop\u00adment of the many Madon\u00adnas he paint\u00aded there\u00adafter. From Leonar\u00addo he learned tech\u00adniques like sfu\u00adma\u00adto, the cre\u00adation of soft tran\u00adsi\u00adtions between col\u00adors; from Michelan\u00adge\u00adlo, \u201chow to use the human body as an expres\u00adsive tool.\u201d But what most clear\u00adly emerges is the con\u00adcept con\u00adtem\u00adpo\u00adrary the\u00ado\u00adrist Leon Bat\u00adtista Alber\u00adti<\/a> called his\u00adto\u00adria: a nar\u00adra\u00adtive that plays out even with\u00adin the con\u00adfines of a sta\u00adt\u00adic image. In Raphael\u2019s cir\u00adcu\u00adlar, abun\u00addant\u00adly detailed Alba Madon\u00adna of 1511, Puschak sees the infant Jesus \u201cnot so much tak\u00ading as grab\u00adbing his future and pulling it clos\u00ader\u201d as Mary looks on with emo\u00adtions sub\u00adtly lay\u00adered into her face. How, exact\u00adly, Raphael honed his instinct for dra\u00adma is a ques\u00adtion for art his\u00adto\u00adri\u00adans. But would it be too much of a reach to guess that he also learned a thing or two from his time as a stage-set design\u00ader?<\/p>\n

Relat\u00aded con\u00adtent:<\/p>\n

Pla\u00adto, Aris\u00adto\u00adtle & Oth\u00ader Greek Philoso\u00adphers in Raphael\u2019s Renais\u00adsance Mas\u00adter\u00adpiece, The School of Athens<\/a><\/p>\n

Artist Turns Famous Paint\u00adings, from Raphael to Mon\u00adet to Licht\u00aden\u00adstein, Into Inno\u00adv\u00ada\u00adtive Sound\u00adscapes<\/a><\/p>\n

Why Leonar\u00addo da Vinci\u2019s Great\u00adest Paint\u00ading is Not the Mona Lisa<\/a><\/p>\n

The Evo\u00adlu\u00adtion of The Great Wave off Kana\u00adgawa: See Four Ver\u00adsions That Hoku\u00adsai Paint\u00aded Over Near\u00adly 40 Years<\/a><\/p>\n

14 Self-Por\u00adtraits by Pablo Picas\u00adso Show the Evo\u00adlu\u00adtion of His Style: See Self-Por\u00adtraits Mov\u00ading from Ages 15 to 90<\/a><\/p>\n

The Evo\u00adlu\u00adtion of Kandinsky\u2019s Paint\u00ading: A Jour\u00adney from Real\u00adism to Vibrant Abstrac\u00adtion Over 46 Years<\/a><\/p>\n

Based in Seoul,\u00a0Col\u00adin<\/a>\u00a0M<\/a>a<\/a>rshall<\/a>\u00a0writes and broad\u00adcasts on cities, lan\u00adguage, and cul\u00adture. His projects include the Sub\u00adstack newslet\u00adter\u00a0Books on Cities<\/a>\u00a0and the book\u00a0The State\u00adless City: a Walk through 21st-Cen\u00adtu\u00adry Los Ange\u00adles.\u00a0Fol\u00adlow him on the social net\u00adwork for\u00admer\u00adly known as Twit\u00adter at\u00a0@colinm<\/a>a<\/a>rshall<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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