DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.53068#0262
RAPHAEL
pressions as he needed for these transcendental purposes. Even then it must have
happened to him that his eyes were opened for the strong elemental play of
atmosphere and water; or was it only then, and at no other time, that his sensi-
tiveness was for the Erst time strong enough to make itself accessible to the sway
of higher powers in those awe-inspiring moments when nature rests from her
labours? It may be that his distant views over hill and dale and the calm surface
of lakes had disclosed themselves with such lyrical beauty from the very begin-
ning, even in Umbria and Tuscany, as an accompaniment for the tranquil
scenes of motherhood or the movements of the Graces; yet it was only now that
the dramatic play of the elements came over him, and clouds and breezes are
alive with the same breath that quickens the heart-beat of his figures. In the pre-
sence of nature he is transformed, in Leonardo’s phrase, “like a mirror”, into as
many colours as appear before him; in his own intensity he apprehends the
secrets of nature that are conformable to him. Under their impress also he re-
mains creative, “like a second nature” (Leonardo, Trattato della Pittura, 57).
He had long since adopted a more popular rendering of the accustomed
theme of the Mother of God; from the character of the women of Rome he
adopted, with entire understanding of the simplicity of domestic devotion, the
noble bearing of the Madonna della Sedia, the Madonna della Tenda, and finally,
of the Madonna with the Fish, in which an effect of sublimity is attained by the
manner in which a breath of the air of heaven blows out a simple curtain—
“numine afflatur”. Now he might well find it essential, in the altarpiece for the
parish church, to set before the eyes of the congregation Grace rather than
maternal bliss. So the Virgin with the Child becomes for him a vision, as she is
wafted down on clouds into the sphere of the altar, above the mediating saints; after
the Sistine Madonna we have the Madonna of Foligno and that sublime con-
ception, in a large folio drawing at Chatsworth (Plate 141), of the Mother
who brings the divine Child to the abyss of the world and seems to shudder on
the clouds before the depths upon which he is bestowing his blessing. Here we
have, unexpectedly revivified, a bit of Renaissance, yet another revival of the
Antique mode; the element of life that fills the universal space in and around
humanity is concentrated in significant figures; incomprehensible powers that
have influence on mankind are seeking to embody themselves in symbols. Michael
Angelo knew how to sum up in figures the phases of the day. Ten years before
him, Raphael renders, in the St Cecilia, the revelation of the “inner” voice—a
vision, but only for the eyes of those who “look not at the things which are seen,
but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal;
but the things which are not seen are eternal.”
§ The St Cecilia
In the St Cecilia also (Plate 244), the glory that is above her is not presented to
view; her eyes, it is true, look towards the sky but they are not aware of it, for
244
pressions as he needed for these transcendental purposes. Even then it must have
happened to him that his eyes were opened for the strong elemental play of
atmosphere and water; or was it only then, and at no other time, that his sensi-
tiveness was for the Erst time strong enough to make itself accessible to the sway
of higher powers in those awe-inspiring moments when nature rests from her
labours? It may be that his distant views over hill and dale and the calm surface
of lakes had disclosed themselves with such lyrical beauty from the very begin-
ning, even in Umbria and Tuscany, as an accompaniment for the tranquil
scenes of motherhood or the movements of the Graces; yet it was only now that
the dramatic play of the elements came over him, and clouds and breezes are
alive with the same breath that quickens the heart-beat of his figures. In the pre-
sence of nature he is transformed, in Leonardo’s phrase, “like a mirror”, into as
many colours as appear before him; in his own intensity he apprehends the
secrets of nature that are conformable to him. Under their impress also he re-
mains creative, “like a second nature” (Leonardo, Trattato della Pittura, 57).
He had long since adopted a more popular rendering of the accustomed
theme of the Mother of God; from the character of the women of Rome he
adopted, with entire understanding of the simplicity of domestic devotion, the
noble bearing of the Madonna della Sedia, the Madonna della Tenda, and finally,
of the Madonna with the Fish, in which an effect of sublimity is attained by the
manner in which a breath of the air of heaven blows out a simple curtain—
“numine afflatur”. Now he might well find it essential, in the altarpiece for the
parish church, to set before the eyes of the congregation Grace rather than
maternal bliss. So the Virgin with the Child becomes for him a vision, as she is
wafted down on clouds into the sphere of the altar, above the mediating saints; after
the Sistine Madonna we have the Madonna of Foligno and that sublime con-
ception, in a large folio drawing at Chatsworth (Plate 141), of the Mother
who brings the divine Child to the abyss of the world and seems to shudder on
the clouds before the depths upon which he is bestowing his blessing. Here we
have, unexpectedly revivified, a bit of Renaissance, yet another revival of the
Antique mode; the element of life that fills the universal space in and around
humanity is concentrated in significant figures; incomprehensible powers that
have influence on mankind are seeking to embody themselves in symbols. Michael
Angelo knew how to sum up in figures the phases of the day. Ten years before
him, Raphael renders, in the St Cecilia, the revelation of the “inner” voice—a
vision, but only for the eyes of those who “look not at the things which are seen,
but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal;
but the things which are not seen are eternal.”
§ The St Cecilia
In the St Cecilia also (Plate 244), the glory that is above her is not presented to
view; her eyes, it is true, look towards the sky but they are not aware of it, for
244