Raphael. Renaissance Automatic translate

Starting January 23, the Kaluga Museum of Fine Arts will host the unique exhibition project "RAPHAEL. THE RENAISSANCE." For the first time in Russia, it presents the largest retrospective of works by the outstanding Renaissance artist Raphael Santi, who became one of the three titans of the Renaissance, along with Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo Buonarroti. Over 90 engravings and lithographs from the 16th to 19th centuries, based on his drawings, frescoes, and mosaics from private collections in the UK and Germany, will be on display.

Raphael’s name shone like a shining star in the firmament of world artistic heritage, revealing to the world his truly divine genius. His canvases and frescoes, reflecting the very essence of the Renaissance, became a symbol of humanity’s transition from the Middle Ages to the Enlightenment and the Modern Age.

Grand dukes and all-powerful bankers coveted his paintings. The Pope awarded him the best commissions and paid him generous fees. Raphael, beloved by all and sundry, strove for harmony throughout his life, captivating humanists and masters of the Renaissance with his work.

Among the artist’s monumental works, the series of frescoes in the Vatican Loggias occupies a special place. Grateful descendants would later call them Raphael’s Loggias, and his pictorial band, Raphael’s Bible. On the ceilings of each of the thirteen vaults of the arcades, Raphael painted four frescoes on themes from the Old and New Testaments. Their total number, 52, equals the number of weeks in a year. According to the canons of Catholic services, at the end of each week, sermons were delivered to the citizens of Rome on a specific event or parable from the Bible.

In 1866, the outstanding German artist and engraver Ludwig Gruner, director of the Dresden Royal Cabinet of Prints, in collaboration with the famous Italian artist and president of the Accademia di San Luca, Nicola Consoni, produced 52 large-format tinted lithographs of frescoes in the style of old 16th-century woodcuts, which are presented at the exhibition in their entirety.

Raphael takes his viewer through history, from the creation of the world to the coming of the Savior. His biblical scenes seem like windows opening onto a new world. The result is a harmonious synthesis of the ancient and Christian worlds, which may well be the reason for the Loggias’ enduring glory. Raphael speaks of the dawn of a new, Christian era in human life. And while this new era may draw on the achievements of antiquity, it is nevertheless distinct from it, as well as immeasurably superior.

A brilliant architect, Raphael was often commissioned to design churches, cathedrals, and chapels. Raphael’s growing fame piqued the interest of Agostino Chigi, one of the wealthiest merchants of his time, who fostered the artist’s genius by hiring him widely and bringing him to the attention of the Pope and other Italian princes. Among the greatest works Raphael completed for Agostino Chigi is rightfully considered the Chigi Chapel, a family chapel for which the artist designed the mosaics for the dome.

The exhibition features a series of magnificent engravings from these mosaics, executed by Ludwig Grüner in 1850. They depict the universe according to the theories of Ptolemy and Aristotle, which, since Raphael, had been supplanted by the Copernican and Newtonian systems. Along with the Almighty, Raphael depicted the planets and fixed stars. Each planet is under the protection of an Angel, awaiting a sign from above, in accordance with medieval thought.

A special mood and enchanting poetic quality are imparted by the 30 unique engravings from Raphael’s drawings on display at the exhibition. These illustrations are for Lucius Apuleius’s novella "Cupid and Psyche" from his novel "The Metamorphoses," or "The Golden Ass." Printed in Rome in 1774 from copper plates dating from the 1530s to 1560s, the engravings were executed by outstanding 16th-century masters and Raphael’s contemporaries, Agostino Veneziano and Maestro B. Del Dado. These illustrations particularly clearly reveal Raphael’s distinctive style, renowned for its harmony, transparency, clarity, effortlessly balanced composition, and grandeur, distinguished by a balanced drawing style, calm and measured images, soft forms, diffused light, and rounded contours.

Raphael proved himself to be an exceptionally strong and vibrant artistic individual. He is rightfully considered one of the most productive artists and influential public figures of his time. The author of numerous paintings and frescoes on religious, classical, and secular subjects, the official artist of the papal court, the chief architect of St. Peter’s Basilica, the chief curator of Roman antiquities, and the first archaeologist of ancient Rome, Raphael himself became both a symbol and an embodiment of the Renaissance.