DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.51585#0139
RAPHAEL SANZIO d’uRBINO.
135
not seen; by this happy correspondence between
the expression of the countenance and the dispo-
sition of the parts, the figure appears to think from
head to foot.” *
7. The Charge to St. Peter.
“ Feed my sheep.”-—Acts xxi. 16.
Christ is standing and pointing with the right
hand to a flock of sheep; his left hand is extended
towards Peter, who, holding the key, kneels at his
feet. The other ten apostles stand behind him,
listening with various gestures and expression to
the words of the Saviour. In the background a
landscape, and on the right the Lake of Gennesareth
and a fisher’s bark. In the tapestry the white robe
of our Saviour is strewed with golden stars, which
has a beautiful effect, and doubtless existed in the
cartoon, though no trace of this is now visible.
As the transaction here represented took place
between Christ and St. Peter only, there was little
room for dramatic effect. Richardson praises the
introduction of the sheep, as the only means of
making the incident intelligible ; but I agree with
Dr. Waagen that herein Raphael has perhaps, in
avoiding one error, fallen into another, and, not
able to give us the real meaning of the words, has
turned into a palpable object what was merely
a figurative expression, and thus produced an
* Sir Joshua Reynolds.
135
not seen; by this happy correspondence between
the expression of the countenance and the dispo-
sition of the parts, the figure appears to think from
head to foot.” *
7. The Charge to St. Peter.
“ Feed my sheep.”-—Acts xxi. 16.
Christ is standing and pointing with the right
hand to a flock of sheep; his left hand is extended
towards Peter, who, holding the key, kneels at his
feet. The other ten apostles stand behind him,
listening with various gestures and expression to
the words of the Saviour. In the background a
landscape, and on the right the Lake of Gennesareth
and a fisher’s bark. In the tapestry the white robe
of our Saviour is strewed with golden stars, which
has a beautiful effect, and doubtless existed in the
cartoon, though no trace of this is now visible.
As the transaction here represented took place
between Christ and St. Peter only, there was little
room for dramatic effect. Richardson praises the
introduction of the sheep, as the only means of
making the incident intelligible ; but I agree with
Dr. Waagen that herein Raphael has perhaps, in
avoiding one error, fallen into another, and, not
able to give us the real meaning of the words, has
turned into a palpable object what was merely
a figurative expression, and thus produced an
* Sir Joshua Reynolds.