DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.61022#0050
EARLY PICTURES
it necessary to call it into account. It makes little difference in
the estimate of Raphael’s power whether he is to be credited with
the conversion of an already settled but lifeless scheme into a
living picture or the piecing together of old material. All the
structural elements of Raphael’s picture are contained in the fresco
by Perugino of the i Charge to Peter ’ in the Sistine Chapel, the
predella of the4Circumcision’ in Fano, and the predella to Raphael’s
own 4 Coronation ’ with the subject of the 4 Presentation.’ The
octagonal temple and attendant groups occur in all these pictures;
the central group with the priest is found in the predellas, while
in the 4 Charge to Peter ’ the temple is placed at a distance from
the actors in a manner identical with that in the 4 Sposalizio ’ of
Raphael and the picture at Caen. The poses of the two principal
actors in the 4 Sposalizio ’ are almost identical with those in
Raphael’s own 4 Presentation,’ while the strange attitude of
Joseph’s left leg not only occurs in the Virgin of the 4 Presenta-
tion,’ but can be traced farther back to the principal old man in
the 4 Circumcision ’ at Fano. These and a hundred other parallel-
isms of detail are too frequent to be worth mentioning if nothing
more is desired than to emphasise the obvious resemblance of the
picture to others of its family, and they occur over too wide a
field to be of value in tracing Raphael’s debt to the influence of
any particular picture.
Raphael’s innovations in this picture, or rather the special
variations in the Peruginian tradition which his taste led him to
emphasise, are upon the same lines as those noted in the other
pictures. His figures show no sign that his conception of the
apposite and the beautiful was different from that of Perugino ;
they are graceful, dainty and charming, somewhat weak in drawing
with the weakness that comes of a preference for a particular
sentiment over study and realisation, and their attitudes are
occasioned by decorative and ornamental rather than dramatic
considerations. But within this sphere there is, as there was in the
4 Coronation’ and its predellas, a definite attempt to place the figures
28
it necessary to call it into account. It makes little difference in
the estimate of Raphael’s power whether he is to be credited with
the conversion of an already settled but lifeless scheme into a
living picture or the piecing together of old material. All the
structural elements of Raphael’s picture are contained in the fresco
by Perugino of the i Charge to Peter ’ in the Sistine Chapel, the
predella of the4Circumcision’ in Fano, and the predella to Raphael’s
own 4 Coronation ’ with the subject of the 4 Presentation.’ The
octagonal temple and attendant groups occur in all these pictures;
the central group with the priest is found in the predellas, while
in the 4 Charge to Peter ’ the temple is placed at a distance from
the actors in a manner identical with that in the 4 Sposalizio ’ of
Raphael and the picture at Caen. The poses of the two principal
actors in the 4 Sposalizio ’ are almost identical with those in
Raphael’s own 4 Presentation,’ while the strange attitude of
Joseph’s left leg not only occurs in the Virgin of the 4 Presenta-
tion,’ but can be traced farther back to the principal old man in
the 4 Circumcision ’ at Fano. These and a hundred other parallel-
isms of detail are too frequent to be worth mentioning if nothing
more is desired than to emphasise the obvious resemblance of the
picture to others of its family, and they occur over too wide a
field to be of value in tracing Raphael’s debt to the influence of
any particular picture.
Raphael’s innovations in this picture, or rather the special
variations in the Peruginian tradition which his taste led him to
emphasise, are upon the same lines as those noted in the other
pictures. His figures show no sign that his conception of the
apposite and the beautiful was different from that of Perugino ;
they are graceful, dainty and charming, somewhat weak in drawing
with the weakness that comes of a preference for a particular
sentiment over study and realisation, and their attitudes are
occasioned by decorative and ornamental rather than dramatic
considerations. But within this sphere there is, as there was in the
4 Coronation’ and its predellas, a definite attempt to place the figures
28