DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.61022#0048
EARLY PICTURES
have been claimed as Raphael’s work without causing conviction.
If they are his, they show him in unlucky moments indistinguish-
able from the mass of his fellow-workers in Perugino’s workshop.
Two pictures, a ‘ Blessing Christ ’ at Brescia and a i St. Sebastian ’
at Bergamo (Plate vm.), which many critics agree in attributing
to Raphael, are of greater intrinsic merit. The ‘ Sebastian ’ shows
a face which is typically Peruginesque, and differs in almost every
particular from the heads which in Raphael’s pictures show diverg-
ence from Perugino’s forms. In these pictures it is interesting to
note that though they are attributed to Raphael by critics who,
par excellence, base their judgments upon the characteristics of
minor details, the widest divergence is shown in the shape of
the hands and fingers. St. Sebastian’s fingers are long and bony,
and are posed in the conventional attitude of dainty clasping,
which occurs again and again with fingers of similar shape in
pictures of the Madonna, while the Christ shows a broad square
palm, and fingers and a thumb which are as fat and as short
as St. Sebastian’s are thin and long. For the attribution of the
‘ St. Sebastian ’ to Raphael very little can be said; but the
‘ Blessing Christ ’ has enough points of resemblance with the
figures in the Ansidei Madonna to make its attribution to
Raphael at that period not improbable.
Of the two pictures which, besides the ‘ Crucifixion ’ in
Dr. Mond’s collection, Raphael painted for churches in Citta di
Castello, one, the ‘ Coronation of St. Nicholas of Tolentino,’ has
now disappeared. Only a late and free copy of the central figure
(Plate ix.), and a drawing1 (attributed to Pinturicchio by
important critics), can be used for its reconstruction. The Saint
seems to have been standing in the lower half of the picture, his
feet planted upon the writhing figure of Satan. On each side stood
angels, while in the upper portion of the picture three figures-
the Deity, the Virgin, and a Saint,—were represented as holding
crowns. The figures seem to have been displayed in a divided
1 Lille. Fischel No. 33, see also Oxford, Robinson, CatalogueNo. 4. p. Ill, and App. 18.
26
have been claimed as Raphael’s work without causing conviction.
If they are his, they show him in unlucky moments indistinguish-
able from the mass of his fellow-workers in Perugino’s workshop.
Two pictures, a ‘ Blessing Christ ’ at Brescia and a i St. Sebastian ’
at Bergamo (Plate vm.), which many critics agree in attributing
to Raphael, are of greater intrinsic merit. The ‘ Sebastian ’ shows
a face which is typically Peruginesque, and differs in almost every
particular from the heads which in Raphael’s pictures show diverg-
ence from Perugino’s forms. In these pictures it is interesting to
note that though they are attributed to Raphael by critics who,
par excellence, base their judgments upon the characteristics of
minor details, the widest divergence is shown in the shape of
the hands and fingers. St. Sebastian’s fingers are long and bony,
and are posed in the conventional attitude of dainty clasping,
which occurs again and again with fingers of similar shape in
pictures of the Madonna, while the Christ shows a broad square
palm, and fingers and a thumb which are as fat and as short
as St. Sebastian’s are thin and long. For the attribution of the
‘ St. Sebastian ’ to Raphael very little can be said; but the
‘ Blessing Christ ’ has enough points of resemblance with the
figures in the Ansidei Madonna to make its attribution to
Raphael at that period not improbable.
Of the two pictures which, besides the ‘ Crucifixion ’ in
Dr. Mond’s collection, Raphael painted for churches in Citta di
Castello, one, the ‘ Coronation of St. Nicholas of Tolentino,’ has
now disappeared. Only a late and free copy of the central figure
(Plate ix.), and a drawing1 (attributed to Pinturicchio by
important critics), can be used for its reconstruction. The Saint
seems to have been standing in the lower half of the picture, his
feet planted upon the writhing figure of Satan. On each side stood
angels, while in the upper portion of the picture three figures-
the Deity, the Virgin, and a Saint,—were represented as holding
crowns. The figures seem to have been displayed in a divided
1 Lille. Fischel No. 33, see also Oxford, Robinson, CatalogueNo. 4. p. Ill, and App. 18.
26