Raphael ascension. Transfiguration

October 05, 2012

Transfiguration

1518-1520; 405x278 cm; wood, oil
Vatican Museum, Vatican

A painting of the Transfiguration of the Lord was commissioned from Raphael in 1517 by Cardinal Giulio de' Medici for the Cathedral in Narbonne, where he was a bishop. Raphael was prevented from finishing his work by sudden death.

Some researchers consider the painting to be never completed, others suggest that it was completed by the master’s students, but everyone notes that even in this form it is an indisputable masterpiece.

In 1797, Napoleon transported the Transfiguration to France, and the painting returned to the Vatican only after the overthrow of the emperor in 1815. As a result of transportation, it was severely damaged, and the first restoration only worsened its condition. The next restoration, carried out in the seventies of the 20th century, brought the painting as close as possible to the one it had four centuries ago.

Traditionally, artists depicted Christ standing on a mountain (more often just on a hill) between Moses and Elijah, while the apostles reclined at His feet, shielding their eyes from the bright light. Raphael chooses a different compositional move for his painting.

On it the Savior is depicted floating in the air, as during the Ascension. The radiance enveloping his figure—that very “light cloud”—illuminates the rest of the characters. The lower part of the picture, according to the iconographic tradition, represents the episode that immediately followed the descent of Christ from the mountain: Raphael depicts the miracle of healing of a boy with epilepsy.

Fear, confusion, surprise, vanity in this part of the picture contrast with the majestic calm emanating from the figure of Christ. The variety of poses and gestures expresses the different feelings of the characters and emphasizes the individuality of each of them. The expressiveness of the figures is emphasized by the light falling from the left. Perhaps this is a technique not previously found in his painting; Raphael invented it while working on theatrical scenery. Later, this special method of lighting was borrowed from Raphael by Caravaggio (1573-1610).

Technical Note

As a result of studying the “Transfiguration” with the help of modern X-ray equipment, scientists have established that first Raphael depicted Christ, two prophets and St. John naked and only then “dressed”.

The Renaissance is a time of intellectual dawn, a time when the entire culture took on special shapes. Such flowering and rise in spiritual level occurred thanks to great personalities, heroes of the era. One of these people was Rafael Santi.

Biography

Raphael was born in 1483 in the town of Urbino in the family of the court painter Giovanni Santi. The father did not have such talents as Raphael, but it was he who instilled in his son a love for art. Giovanni painted the temples and took the boy with him, Raphael sat and calmly looked at the frescoes, and sometimes, with his father’s permission, mixed paints.

The mother died in 1491, and the father died later. Raphael became an orphan at the age of 11, but thanks to his father’s connections, he continued to study painting with court teachers.

The beginning of creativity

At the age of seventeen he comes to the workshop of P. Perugino. Pietro, a famous Italian artist, was the head of a large workshop. Raphael became his most famous student. From the very beginning of Raphael Santi's creative career, what stood out was his ability to combine colors, show their full depth, and build a harmonious composition. One of these early works is the Conestabile Madonna, depicting the Virgin Mary and the Christ Child.

Artist's maturity

Transfiguration. 1518-1520

The painting "Transfiguration" by Raphael Santi was commissioned by Cardinal Giulio de' Medici for the city's cathedral; it was impossible to refuse. There is controversy surrounding the painting as to whether it was all painted by Raphael.

There are suggestions that R. Santi did not have time to complete the picture due to his sudden death, so only the main scene: Christ and the Apostles belongs to his brush. And the plot at the bottom of the picture was performed by Raphael’s students Giulio Romano and Gianfrancesco Penni.

According to another version, the entire picture was painted by Raphael and only a few figures were completed by students.

It is only known that while dying, the creator gestured to his student Giulio Romano at the painting “Transfiguration,” urging him to finish the work.

Raphael Santi's painting "The Transfiguration" describes a biblical story written in the gospels. Christ decided to show his true appearance; he took James, John and Peter. He went to a high mountain, where only they were, and was transformed. His face shone like the sun, his clothes became white like light. When they came to the people, a man approached Jesus and bent his knee asking him to heal his demon-possessed son. Christ healed the boy and the demon left him.

For a long time Raphael did not know how to paint this picture. How to portray these complex subjects is a miracle. He tried to imagine himself in the place of the apostles who saw what was happening, but he could not bring himself closer to these unearthly sensations.

Painstakingly, he began to paint the picture. I changed the position of the figures several times and changed the composition.

Rafael Santi "Transfiguration": description

The figure of Christ evokes admiration, the way the light is conveyed, creating a feeling of exaltation and flight. This is a real miracle; the apostles are blinded by what they see.

The bottom of the picture contrasts with the top, it’s twilight, everyone is crowded and jostling. This is all human vanity and turmoil. This is all low compared to what we see in the face of Christ.

The painting is recognized as a world masterpiece. In 1797, Napoleon's troops confiscated the Transfiguration. The painting was placed in the Louvre, where artists studied it, it became an example - an ideal. Napoleon himself considered Raphael a genius, and the Transfiguration his most ambitious work. Only in 1815 was the painting returned to the Vatican.

Due to moving, the painting was damaged. Has been restored twice.

The end of life's journey

Many creators were neither famous nor recognized during their lifetime. But Rafael Santi was not one of them; the artist was revered, even called “divine.” Thanks to his talents, he had powerful patrons and lived in luxury.

But death befell the creator suddenly at the age of 37; modern researchers write that fever was to blame. Before his death, the master left a will in which he did not forget anyone: neither relatives, nor friends, nor students... All of Rome came to say goodbye to the maestro; above the headboard they saw the last masterpiece of the genius - the painting by Raphael Santi “The Transfiguration of the Lord.” Raphael is buried in the Pantheon. By the way, the artist chose the tomb for himself, and his student Santi Lorenzetti erected a statue of the Virgin Mary, thereby fulfilling the wish of his teacher.

On August 19, Orthodox believers celebrate one of the twelve holidays - the Transfiguration of the Lord. Let's open the Gospel of Luke. “After these words, eight days later, He took Peter, John and James and went up to the mountain to pray. And when he prayed, the appearance of His face changed, and His clothes became white and shining. And behold, two men talked with Him, who were Moses and Elijah. Appearing in glory, they spoke of His exodus, which He was to accomplish in Jerusalem. Peter and those with him were heavy with sleep, but when they awoke, they saw His glory and the two men standing with Him. And when they departed from Him, Peter said to Jesus: Master! It's good for us to be here; We will make three tabernacles, one for You, one for Moses and one for Elijah,–not knowing what he was saying. While he was saying this, a cloud appeared and overshadowed them; and they were afraid when they entered the cloud. And there came a voice from the cloud, saying: This is my beloved Son; Listen to him. When this voice came, Jesus was left alone. And they kept silent and did not tell anyone in those days about what they saw.”(Luke 9:28–36).

For centuries, icon painters and artists sought to capture the image of the Transfiguration of the Lord in their works, poets dedicated their poems to this event... Suffice it to recall, say, the poetic lines of Alexander Blok:

...On the bright day of Transfiguration
The madman's spirit is struck:
Out of bondage, out of confusion
He heard Your voice.

Now mournful, now poor,
In the bosom of the Eternal Father,
Close to You, in the pale azure
Longing for a new end...

Or Boris Pasternak:

You walked in a crowd, separately and in pairs,
Suddenly someone remembered that today
The sixth of August in the old days,
Transfiguration.

Usually light without flame
Coming from Tabor on this day,
And autumn, clear as a sign,
Eyes are drawn to yourself.

But this time we will talk not about poetry, but about painting. And not about icons, although countless icons have been written dedicated to the Transfiguration of the Lord. On the eve of this bright holiday, “Parishioner” decided to show and tell its readers a little how famous artists imagined the Transfiguration of the Lord. Of course, in one short article it is impossible to name all the famous painters who devoted their talent to this topic. We invite you to look at the masterpieces of seven great masters.

1. Rafael Santi

We can say that the painting “Transfiguration of the Lord” was the last creation of the great Raphael. He died suddenly at the age of 37, and this painting stood at his head on the day of the funeral.

In his painting, Raphael twice violated generally accepted traditions. Firstly, he depicted Christ not standing on a mountain, but floating in the air. And, secondly, the artist seemed to combine two subjects on one canvas: the Transfiguration of the Lord itself and the moment when Christ, having descended from the mountain, heals a boy suffering from epilepsy.

The contrast between both stories is striking. In the upper part, where the Savior hovers, we see Divine light, peace and grandeur; there is harmony there. The lower part is dark: there is suffering, troubles, unrest, disputes.

It is known that the artist was commissioned by Cardinal Giulio Medici. He was appointed Archbishop of Narbonne, and he wanted to decorate the cathedral of the French city of Narbonne with a painting by Raphael. True, having received Raphael’s painting, Cardinal Medici decided not to take it to France, but to leave it in Italy. He ordered it to be placed in the altar of the Church of San Pietro in Montorio in Rome. In 1797, during the Italian Campaign, Napoleon took Raphael's masterpiece to France and placed it in the Louvre. The painting returned to Italy only after the overthrow of the emperor in 1815, and today it is in the Vatican Pinacoteca.

There were many rumors that Raphael did not have time to finish the painting “The Transfiguration of the Lord” before his death and the entire lower part was completed by his students Giulio Romano and Gianfracesco Penni. But special studies of the painting, carried out in 1972–1976, proved that Romano and Penny only slightly completed the two figures in the lower left part of the canvas, everything else was the work of the great Raphael.

2. Giovanni Bellini

Giovanni Bellini was an Italian Renaissance artist who lived in Venice about half a century before Raphael.

On the theme of the Transfiguration of the Lord, the artist painted two paintings, very different from each other. His early work, painted in 1455–60, can be seen in the Correr Museum in Venice. For a long time it was believed that this painting was not painted by Bellini, but by his relative Andrea Mantegna. The late masterpiece, created in the 1480s, is on display at the Galleria Nazionale Capodimonte in Naples.

In the painting of 1455–60, Christ with Moses and Elijah seem to be torn off from the earth. They are closer to the sky than to the ground - it’s not for nothing that the artist depicted so much air around the main figures. The apostles, amazed or blinded by what they saw, lie below, not trying to rise and look. Bellini seemed to want to show that the gospel events took place in parallel with the lives of other people. For the artist, Mount Tabor turned into a small hill, and additional everyday sketches appeared, such as a peasant with a bull. At the same time, for some reason, the artist placed a special emphasis on the wooden fence, which cuts diagonally through the bottom of the picture and separates the viewer from the scene on the canvas and the rocky abyss. Perhaps by this Bellini wanted to say that the path not only to Mount Tabor, but to God in general, is difficult and dangerous and not everyone will be able to climb this road.

3. Titian

In Venice, a five-minute walk from Piazza San Marco stands the snow-white Church of San Salvador. In it, above the altar, you can see another “Transfiguration of the Lord” - the creation of Titian Vecellio. The name of this artist stands among such great Italians as Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, Raphael. He studied with the already mentioned Giovanni Bellini, but surpassed his teacher. He was commissioned for portraits by kings and popes, dukes and princes. Titian was not yet 30 years old when he was recognized as the best painter of Venice. In addition to portraits of famous people, he painted paintings on biblical themes. In the same church of San Salvador you can see another of his famous creations - “The Annunciation”.

Titian's "Transfiguration of the Lord" is very different from works on this topic by other artists. We see not the calm light enveloping Christ, not the peaceful conversation of Jesus with Moses and Elijah - the “Transfiguration”, written by Titian, is permeated through and through with rapid movement, unprecedented energy. The Light of Favor is like a powerful explosion, a flash of white flame. Christ appears in a whirlwind of white light. And with this whirlwind, the Savior not only throws His disciples to the ground - He pushes aside the darkness and literally brings people the light of a new teaching.

4. Paolo Veronese

The work of another famous Italian painter, Paolo Veronese, is closely connected with the Church of San Salvador, where Titian’s work is located. He created many of his masterpieces for this church. It is known that the artist loved the Church of San Salvador so much that he bequeathed to be buried in it. The grateful Venetians fulfilled his last wish, and with his death the era of the late Renaissance ended.

At birth he was given the name Paolo Cagliari. He was the fifth child in the family of the sculptor Gabriele Cagliari, but he decided to take his name after the place where he was born - the city of Verona. True, later he would again take his family name, and his later works would be signed “Cagliari”. Veronese is a master of light, very subtle, breathing colors. And this is especially noticeable in many of the artist’s masterpieces on the themes of the Old and New Testaments.

In northern Italy, in the province of Padua, there is a small fortified city called Montagnana. It has a cathedral dedicated to the Virgin Mary. In the cathedral, above the altar, there is Veronese’s famous creation “The Transfiguration of the Lord,” executed in Veronese’s characteristic soft, almost lyrical manner. Christ is separated from the apostles by a fluffy cloud and has a leisurely conversation with Moses and Elijah. His pose is filled with humility, as if He is taking the first step on the path to Calvary.

5. Lorenzo Lotto

Another Italian, another Venetian - Lorenzo Lotto. This famous painter was considered by his contemporaries to be too independent. They said about him that he was incapable of compromise either in creativity or in spiritual matters. That is why the artist had such a hard time in life. Venice ridiculed Lorenzo Lotto, rejected him and tried to forget. He set out on the road, trying to find customers who could appreciate and accept him for who he was; visited Marche, Bergamo, Treviso, Rome, Recanati.

Features of Lorenzo Lotto's paintings are enchanting colors, bright light and very accurate, extremely realistic drawing of all details. As the famous art critic Bernard Berenson once noted, “to understand the sixteenth century, knowing Lotto is as important as knowing Titian.”

In the small Italian town of Recanati there is the Church of St. Mary and above the altar there is Lorenzo Lotto’s masterpiece “The Transfiguration of the Lord.” Following his usual style of painting, the artist clearly describes each participant in the event. Moreover, so that no one would have any doubts, the artist signed each figure. According to Lotto, in the Transfiguration of the Lord on Mount Tabor, it is important not only that Christ showed His Divine nature before the chosen disciples, but also what kind of conversation He had with Moses and Elijah. The artist conveyed the difficult decision that the Son of God has to make by depicting their hands and bows of their heads in a special way.

6. Karl Heinrich Bloch

Let's fast forward 300 years from Italy to Denmark. The amazing artist Karl Heinrich Bloch was born here in 1834 (he undoubtedly deserves a separate story!). His parents wanted him to choose a respectable profession as a naval officer... And he became an artist. And what!

Karl studied painting in Italy, and was greatly influenced by the work of Rembrandt. But Bloch’s works so shocked his contemporaries that in 1888 the artist was given a high honor - he was offered to place his self-portrait in the Uffizi Gallery in Florence.

Carl Bloch devoted most of his work to works based on biblical themes. When the Danish philanthropist, owner of the Carlsberg company Jacob Jacobsen, saw his paintings, he asked Bloch to paint 23 canvases for the chapel in Frederiksborg Castle, which was damaged by fire. The Danish artist devoted 14 years of his life to this project. They embodied scenes from the life of Christ: “The Sermon on the Mount”, “The Healing of the Blind Man”, “The Temptation of Christ”, “The Raising of Lazarus”... Among these amazing masterpieces there is also the stunning painting “The Transfiguration of the Lord”. What is striking here is the light emanating from Christ, and the blueness inherent in many of Bloch’s creations, which seems to bring hope to people.

7. Alexander Ivanov

Last on the list, but far from least in importance, I would like to name the great Russian artist Alexander Andreevich Ivanov. Hearing his name, everyone instantly remembers the amazing and monumental painting “The Appearance of Christ to the People,” on which the artist worked for 20 years.

After Ivanov graduated from the Imperial Academy of Arts, the Society for the Encouragement of Artists decided to send him to Italy at its own expense to further improve his skills. There he spent a lot of time writing various sketches on biblical themes. It is known that Alexander Ivanov was a very religious person, he diligently studied the Holy Scriptures, especially the New Testament.

While working on the painting “The Appearance of Christ to the People,” Alexander Ivanov simultaneously worked on a series of sketches on biblical themes. In the future, according to art historians, he wanted to make wall paintings based on these sketches, recreating in them the history of the spiritual development of mankind.

Alexander Ivanov conceived 500 subjects, but managed to complete only 200. At the same time, he carefully hid his biblical sketches both from the public and from his fellow artists. In May 1858, having arrived in St. Petersburg, the artist brought the sketches with him, planning to go to Palestine that same year and continue working on biblical sketches... But a month later, Alexander Ivanov fell ill with cholera and died. Here is one of his famous biblical sketches. This is how the great Russian artist Alexander Andreevich Ivanov saw the Transfiguration of the Lord.

...Of course, in a short article dedicated to the feast of the Transfiguration of the Lord, it is impossible to list all the great masters. I named only seven. But others remained: Gustav Doré and Francesco Zuccarelli, Giuseppe Cesari and Giovanni Paggi, Fra Beato Angelico and Pietro Perugino, Mikhail Nesterov and Pavel Svedomsky... Great artists who understood the significance of the grandiose and mystical event of the Transfiguration of the Lord on Mount Tabor and embodied it with their talent in world art.

Petr Selinov

Raphael's work is a phenomenon of European culture, which has a special significance - the highest reference point in the spiritual life of mankind and a model of aesthetic perfection. Read about the last years of Raphael’s work, Raphael’s painting “The Transfiguration”, which was the last in the work of the great artist, the paintings “Madonna and the Fish”, “The Holy Family under the Oak” in our article.

Raphael found passionate admirers of his talent in Spain: the Spaniards never missed the opportunity to buy or even exchange works by the great master and artists of his school. Thanks to the patronage of the Spanish kings, who collected works of art over several centuries, the selection of 7 paintings by Raphael in the Prado is currently one of the best in the world. Charles, who experienced the beneficial influence of the Italian RenaissanceV(1500 - 1568), became the first Spanish monarch to decide to preserve artistic treasures in the possession of the Spanish crown and exhibit works of secular art in his country palace, El Prado. This pleasure was reserved only for the nobility, with the general public offered religious paintings at the El Escorial, a monastery-palace complex built by King PhilipII, son of KarlV. PhilipIIwas a renowned art collector, and during his lifetime he amassed a fine collection of over 1,600 works by Spanish and European artists. King Philip played a major role in consolidating the collection.IV(1606-1665): he ordered the purchase of valuable objects of art. The Viceroy of Naples, the Duke of Medina de las Torres, a political man, decided to use the situation to his advantage, and made every effort to purchase Raphael's Madonna of the Fish as a gift to PhilipIV.

Madonna of the Fish, Rafael Santi

The painting was commissioned by the Neapolitan aristocrat Geronimo del Doce for his Chapel of St. Rosalia in the Church of San Domenico Maggiore (Naples). The plot of the film is based on the story of the adventures of young Tobias and his companion and guardian - Archangel Raphael, told in the book of Tobit (the apocryphal Old Testament). According to the Old Testament legend, Tobias, with the help of a fish donated by the Archangel Raphael, cured the blindness of his father Tobit. This is how Christian theology interpreted Tobiah’s capture of fish (fish is a Christian symbol) and the healing of the blindness of Tobit, Tobiah’s father, symbolizing his spiritual insight and initiation into faith.

The artistic language of religion is images of saints. In the center of the picture, the Virgin Mary rises above everyone on a throne with the Child Christ on her knees. Archangel Raphael, whom Raphael considered his guardian angel, presents to the Virgin Mary and Christ the young Tobias, who is holding a fish. To the right of the Mother of God is St. Jerome with a lion, his main feature. St. Jerome - ecclesiastical writer, secretary of Pope DamasusI- reads the Vulgate, the canonical Latin text of the Bible he created, the translation of which from Greek (New Testament) and Hebrew (Old Testament) he devoted 20 years of work. Archangel Raphael, who was traditionally credited with healing abilities, was considered the guardian spirit of the young and the protector of travelers. Therefore, in Renaissance Italy there was a tradition when, before the departure of their son, the family ordered a painting with a plot with Tobias and an angel, and Tobias was depicted as looking like the family’s son setting off on a journey.

The composition “Madonna with a Fish” is built on the principle of the intersection of diagonals, with complex dynamics of geometric shapes and is reminiscent of the compositional solution of Raphael’s fresco “The Expulsion of Eliodorus” in Stanza d’Eliodoro. “Madonna with the Fish” is not distinguished by its colorful color and wide range of lighting effects. The muted color scheme of the canvas is based on the contrast of warm yellow and cold green tones, where the only bright spot is Jerome’s cardinal’s robe. In this work of the artist, color was not the goal; it became a means of conveying the mood of the composition - a feeling of anxiety.

This masterpiece by Raphael has an interesting history. In Naples, the painting was stolen and taken to Madrid. During the French wars, France entered the European political podium and rightfully “gave” itself Raphael’s masterpiece: “Madonna of the Fish” moved to Paris. Later, the painting was returned to the Prado Museum, which it still adorns today.

"The Holy Family under the Oak" by Rafael Santi

Raphael's easel paintings of religious content from the last period of his life belong to his most perfect works. The religious composition, which includes the Virgin and Child and the figure of Joseph, is usually called the “Holy Family”. The Prado Museum is proud of Raphael's The Holy Family under the Oak. In the painting, the artist depicted a classic version of the holy family with John the Baptist, and a touch of academicism is already felt in it.

Raphael’s last painting, “The Transfiguration,” a kind of testament to the artist, became the main model that classic artists looked up to for many centuries. Due to its uniqueness and size, the painting never left the Vatican, and only its copy was exhibited in other museums.

"Transfiguration", Rafael Santi

This huge altarpiece was commissioned by Cardinal Giulio de' Medici, Bishop of Nabron. The plot is based on the famous biblical parable that Christ decided to show his disciples his true appearance. The Scripture says that Jesus led the apostles Peter, James and Jacob to Mount Tabor, where he was transformed before them, appearing in a bright image surrounded by a divine aura. The voice of God heard at this time confirmed to the apostles that Jesus was his true and only son. Coming down from the mountain, Jesus and the apostles met a crowd of people accompanying a father and his son possessed by the devil, who had come to ask Jesus to heal the child. Traditionally, artists depicted Christ standing on a mountain, and the apostles reclined at his feet, shielding their eyes from the bright light. In Raphael's painting, the Savior is depicted floating in the air, as at the Ascension. Jesus is enveloped in a radiance (“a bright cloud”) and illuminates the rest of the characters. For the coloring of this painting, the artist used the so-called Venetian palette, that is, he selected colors from the point of view of their color value. The upper part of the painting, representing the Transfiguration of the Lord as a vision and distinguished by its sophisticated mature painting, was painted by Raphael. Scientists studied the “Transfiguration” using modern X-ray equipment and found that from the beginning Raphael depicted the prophets and St. John naked, but later “dressed them.”

The increase in dramatic details of the painting indicates that in conveying expression and emotions the artist has approached the line that separates the clear Renaissance style from mannerism. In the composition of the painting with oblique intersections of lines, the future of Baroque is already visible. This painting remained unfinished - it was completed after the death of Raphael by Giulio Romano. In 1797, Napoleon transported the Transfiguration to France, and returned to the Vatican only after the overthrow of the emperor in 1815. The painting was badly damaged, but the first restoration only worsened its condition. Conducted in the 70sXXcenturies of restoration saved the priceless masterpiece and brought it closer to its original appearance.

Raphael died in Rome on Good Friday, April 6, 1520, his birthday, after a sudden three-day illness. There are many legends about the death of Raphael, sometimes casting a shadow on his reputation. The official version deserves unconditional trust, according to which the great artist died of a fever contracted in the Roman catacombs during excavations. In addition, in recent years, Rafael has worked a lot and once admitted: “I hope not to fall under such a weight.” The Pope and the highest clergy took part in the funeral service of the great artist. Raphael is buried in the Roman Pantheon, built during the time of Imperial Rome. The inscription on the artist’s grave reads: “Here lies Raphael, during whose lifetime nature was afraid of being defeated. And after his death she was afraid to die.”

Raphael's tomb in the Pantheon

Raphael's work has become a phenomenon of European culture, which has acquired special significance - the highest reference point in the spiritual life of mankind and a model of aesthetic perfection.