DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.53068#0261
THE LAST FIVE YEARS OF THE PAINTER
as Cardinal Pole writes. It brought all receptive spirits under its spell—as if in a
conspiracy. The Church by its secularization had disturbed that immediate
relation of man to God; now a silent understanding attracted many in this circle
to which friends of Raphael belonged. The art of his last years seemed to have a
vocation to reflect this immediate, pure humanity as a new power, in contrast
to a humanism that had become artificial.
If it remains true that an artist needs patronage in order to give concrete
form to his visions, yet it is not the will of the client alone that helps to release
great ideas; the client’s demands also seem to be merely prompted by a higher
power. In the case of the Medici Pope it may have been a craving for display that
caused him to desire these tapestries, shot with threads of gold, after Raphael’s
designs; but he was called to give the kindling spark for the fuel, garnered up
and now ablaze with a far-reaching glow, of these passionate witnesses to the
story of Salvation;—Agostino Chigi’s astrology and cult of personality, magni-
ficent in its sentiment above his tomb, through the splendour of the mosaic
material, was destined to release the sublime conception of the open cupola,
with a vision of figures of unearthly power in the light of the other world; and
thanks to the lasting quality of the technique, these mosaics were to help in
preserving undimmed for centuries the lustre of this vision.
It was the mark of Raphael’s last maturity that every wish of his patrons was
to be fulfilled far in excess of the specified bounds, to be converted into Raphael’s
entirely personal gift as a thankoffering and legacy to his own and the coming
generation. No artist has ever quitted his labours and the world richer and more
blest in giving than the painter of these last five years; he had discovered the
style of his consummation.
Since in Raphael’s pictures the setting had to give precedence to the figure,
his men and women, as embodiments of divine inspirations, absorb with their
expression the entire scope of the picture within the frame. Heavenly powers
reveal themselves in them; they have taken possession of them, body and spirit,
and unfold their deepest nature. Through them the supramundane is brought
before our eyes; it descends as a vision, and constrains us to gaze into higher
worlds, or through consecrated figures it carries its power amongst men, working
miracles.
During the last span of his life every religious theme is lifted for the painter
into this hallowed sphere; it was a new profundity of contemplation and ex-
perience by virtue of which a man in his maturity here pondered over the things
of the other world. With other chosen spirits of the time, united by tacit consent,
he felt himself allured or called by an inner compulsion—indeed, bound in duty
and by responsibility—to rally devotion by means of his language, that is, by art,
so that along this path he could guide it on high.
His thoughts as a painter circled in zones above the world. In painting
historical subjects, he adopted from this world just so much in the way of im-
243
as Cardinal Pole writes. It brought all receptive spirits under its spell—as if in a
conspiracy. The Church by its secularization had disturbed that immediate
relation of man to God; now a silent understanding attracted many in this circle
to which friends of Raphael belonged. The art of his last years seemed to have a
vocation to reflect this immediate, pure humanity as a new power, in contrast
to a humanism that had become artificial.
If it remains true that an artist needs patronage in order to give concrete
form to his visions, yet it is not the will of the client alone that helps to release
great ideas; the client’s demands also seem to be merely prompted by a higher
power. In the case of the Medici Pope it may have been a craving for display that
caused him to desire these tapestries, shot with threads of gold, after Raphael’s
designs; but he was called to give the kindling spark for the fuel, garnered up
and now ablaze with a far-reaching glow, of these passionate witnesses to the
story of Salvation;—Agostino Chigi’s astrology and cult of personality, magni-
ficent in its sentiment above his tomb, through the splendour of the mosaic
material, was destined to release the sublime conception of the open cupola,
with a vision of figures of unearthly power in the light of the other world; and
thanks to the lasting quality of the technique, these mosaics were to help in
preserving undimmed for centuries the lustre of this vision.
It was the mark of Raphael’s last maturity that every wish of his patrons was
to be fulfilled far in excess of the specified bounds, to be converted into Raphael’s
entirely personal gift as a thankoffering and legacy to his own and the coming
generation. No artist has ever quitted his labours and the world richer and more
blest in giving than the painter of these last five years; he had discovered the
style of his consummation.
Since in Raphael’s pictures the setting had to give precedence to the figure,
his men and women, as embodiments of divine inspirations, absorb with their
expression the entire scope of the picture within the frame. Heavenly powers
reveal themselves in them; they have taken possession of them, body and spirit,
and unfold their deepest nature. Through them the supramundane is brought
before our eyes; it descends as a vision, and constrains us to gaze into higher
worlds, or through consecrated figures it carries its power amongst men, working
miracles.
During the last span of his life every religious theme is lifted for the painter
into this hallowed sphere; it was a new profundity of contemplation and ex-
perience by virtue of which a man in his maturity here pondered over the things
of the other world. With other chosen spirits of the time, united by tacit consent,
he felt himself allured or called by an inner compulsion—indeed, bound in duty
and by responsibility—to rally devotion by means of his language, that is, by art,
so that along this path he could guide it on high.
His thoughts as a painter circled in zones above the world. In painting
historical subjects, he adopted from this world just so much in the way of im-
243