Masters of Art: Raphael [Hardcover]

James H Beck (Author)

Book Description

Series: Masters of Art | Publication Date: April 1, 1994

In his "Lives of the Artists", Vasari wrote: "While we may term other works paintings, those of Raphael are living things, the flesh palpitates, the breath comes and goes, every organ lives, life pulsates everywhere." In this extensively illustrated book featuring some 300 illustrations, the author takes a critical look at the life and work of Rafaello Sanzio, or as he signed certain paintings, Raphael Urbinas, in homage to his native city of Urbino. Described as "an artist touched by grace," he is considered, along with Michelangelo and Leonardo, to be one of the greatest painters of the Italian Renaissance. Raphael (1483-1520), whose birth and death were on a Good Friday, belonged to a family of merchants; aside from his training in the studio of Perugino, little is known about his earliest years. He arrived in Florence in 1504, where he studied the masters and produced magnificent paintings of the Madonna, as well as remarkable portraits. In 1508 he went to Rome, where he died a dozen years later at the height of his powers, after creating monumental works at the Vatican. De Vecchi re-examines the scholarship surrounding each of the major periods of Raphael's short career, dispelling the myths about him that have accumulated over the centuries. He reminds us that the most "profound" element of Raphael's art was his striving to express the dialectic between earthly and heavenly love, an important concern of his contemporaries. The coverage of the text extends beyond the paintings to Raphael's significant work as an architect and designer of interiors.

--This text refers to an alternate Hardcover edition.

Editorial Reviews

Language Notes

Text: English, Italian (translation) --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

About the Author

Pierluigi De Vecchi is Professor of art history at the University of Macerata in Italy. He is the author of a number of works on the Sistine Chapel, Michelangelo, and Raphael and is one of the organizers of a recent exhibition of Raphael's work in Paris. --This text refers to an alternate Hardcover edition.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 128 pages
• Publisher: Harry N. Abrams (April 1, 1994)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0810937778
• ISBN-13: 978-0810937772
• Product Dimensions: 12.4 x 9.3 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.5 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,854,376 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars THE BEST RAPHAEL BOOK YOU"LL EVER NEED TO OWN, July 7, 2010

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W. BUTLER "lost in las vegas" (NEVADA USA) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Raphael (Hardcover)

I bought this marvellous book through Amazon nearly 8 years ago and in all that time not one review! What's gone wrong? Surely ART is still taught in schools and there's still interest in beauty - especially feminine beauty? If this is so it's inevitable students will eventually discover the highest standards of Art, Architecture and Portraiture were established in a 100 year period in one small town ( Florence) and this era was called "The Renaissance".

From there on it's a matter of deciding which of the Big 3 artists was the greatest natural born genius. After getting all excited about the size of the Sistine ceiling and finding Leonardo only created about 10 paintings it doesn't take long to discover Raphael wins by a street. From the beginning to the very early end of his life everything that flowed from his paintbrush has an unbelievable level of perfection. Too perfect it seems for those looking for angst and naked emotion speaking to them from a canvas. (In every large art gallery the largest crowd is always gathered around a Van Gogh)

Raphael's images on the other hand look so simple and uncomplicated. The reverse is true - what you see is the Art of disguising Art. Until much later in his career it never occured to him to create tortuous compositions using extreme movement and dramatic lighting. Just one continuous series of beautiful life-affirming renditions of the kind of subject matter his patrons commissioned. The lucky part being Madonnas were in such great demand he needed to find endless variations of the "Madonna and Child" theme. In the first part of this book you get just about all of them perfectly reproduced in a large format. And what makes this Raphael book better than any other is wherever possible the Italian author inserts all Raphael's preparatory sketches.

It's here the truth about what makes an artist GREAT emerges. The Florentines were all fantastic draftsmen. If the end product looks easy it's because all the hard work was done earlier - trying out every alternative solution until the final image is established. As Raphael's fame spread demand for his genius came from all sides and it was never in doubt he'd end up in the Vatican where his rivalry with Michaelangelo came to the surface. Very few art experts disagree that by sticking by his own convictions harmony was prefable to discord his contibution to the "Stanza della Segnatura" is one of the great landmarks in humanist art. Again this book reproduces every panel at large scale together with all the drawing Raphael considered necessary to make this room his masterpeice.

The rest, as they say is history. This book contains over 300 large very accurate illustrations nearly all in colour. You'll never find a better monograph devoted to the Prince of all Painters.