contemporaries needed to be raised to an epic level, translated into expressions meant to live across the centuries.
Madonna and Child, known as Little Cowper Madonna
c. 1505
Oil on wood, 59.5 × 44 cm
Widener Collection, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
The Saint George is a masterpiece of composition, but it is also a masterpiece of colour. Raphael demonstrates, through the judicious choice of hues and through their vigorous and precise repetitions, the extent to which the painter and the draughtsman are combined in his art. There is nothing more delicate and harmonious than this painting in which, for all of that, no detail is sacrificed. The red saddle contrasts strikingly with the magnificent white coat of the horse; it makes, in turn, the most picturesque contrast against the steel armour of the saint.
Portrait of Agnolo Doni
1505–1506
Oil on wood, 65 × 47.7 cm
Palazzo Pitti, Galleria Palatina e Appartamenti Reali, Florence
The red and white sections of the lance add a lively, bright note to the subdued tones of the landscape; they inject into the whole a most striking sense of energy.
Raphael in Florence
In the month of October 1504 Raphael arrived in Florence with the firm intention of seeking his fortune in this artistic capital of Italy.
Portrait of Maddalena Doni
1505–1506
Oil on wood, 65 × 45.8 cm
Palazzo Pitti, Galleria Palatina e Appartamenti Reali, Florence
He had asked his patron, Duchess Giovanna della Rovere, to give him a letter of recommendation to the Gonfaloniere Pietro Soderini, and it was under the auspices of this great lady that he met the leader of the Florentine Republic.
All indications lead us to believe that Raphael, who was then a follower of the Florentine school, did not think or act in any other way. Antiquity, to use the felicitous expression of Quatremère de Quincy, was like a mirror helping to see nature better.
Madonna of the Meadow, known as Belvedere Madonna
1505–1506
Oil on canvas, 113 × 88.5 cm
Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna
He used it to interpret the model more freely, to lend greatness to his manner, nobility to his symbols, and more fullness and simplicity to the drapery; in short, to get closer to the laws of classical beauty.
But it was in the studio of Baccio d’Agnolo especially that Raphael made many useful acquaintances. Baccio, like many of his contemporaries, practised not only architecture but also wood sculpture and marquetry.
Holy Family with Beardless Saint Joseph
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