DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.61022#0116
RAPHAEL AT ROME
interruption if some other painter caught the favour of the
Pope, and as it stood he had but one chamber finished and
another but begun. Good critic of art the Pope might well be,
but his judgment might equally well show itself by the choice of
different masters for the decoration of the same room. But
Raphael maintained his favour with Julius until his death in
February 1513, and under his successor Leo his position for the
first time was secure.
Leo found Raphael immersed in work. Before the death of
Julius a letter from the agent at Rome of Federigo Gonzaga,
Duke of Mantua, tells of Raphael’s inability to paint a portrait
of the Duke through the number of his commissions.1 Raphael
also painted by Julius’s orders a portrait of the Duke which is in
the chamber of the Vatican where the Pope himself appears.?
The two portraits might well have been completed from a single
sketch, as were perhaps those of Julius himself. Doubtless the
death of the Pope caused an interruption to the decoration of
the 4 Heliodorus ’ chamber, and during this interval it has been
supposed that Raphael executed the first large commission for
Agostino Chigi, for a letter to Castiglione,3 which may be dated
from the next year, speaks of the 4 Galatea ’ as now finished,
and refers to the fresco on the walls of the Farnesina palace.
Perhaps also about this time the fresco of the 4 Sibyls ’ and
4 Prophets ’ in Sta. Maria della Pace was begun at Chigi s expense.
But both these dates are purely conjectural.
With Leo’s accession the busiest period of Raphael’s life
began. He was confirmed in the commission to complete the
4 Heliodorus ’ chamber, altering his designs and his subjects to
suit his new patron’s wishes, but retaining by his own will or by
1 Letters of 11th Jan. and Feb. 1513, p. 7. The portrait was then abandoned owing
to Raphael’s anxiety on account of the Pope’s health. Castiglione in 1521 refers to it as an
existing picture. A portrait of the Duke was in the collection of Charles i. (Campori, Notizie,
1870, pp. 7 and 8).
2 Documents cited, L’ Arte, 1903, p. 108.
3 Passavant, App. vii. p. 501. The letter was first printed in Bino’s collection, 1582.
See Crowe and Cavalcaselle, ii. 205.
94
interruption if some other painter caught the favour of the
Pope, and as it stood he had but one chamber finished and
another but begun. Good critic of art the Pope might well be,
but his judgment might equally well show itself by the choice of
different masters for the decoration of the same room. But
Raphael maintained his favour with Julius until his death in
February 1513, and under his successor Leo his position for the
first time was secure.
Leo found Raphael immersed in work. Before the death of
Julius a letter from the agent at Rome of Federigo Gonzaga,
Duke of Mantua, tells of Raphael’s inability to paint a portrait
of the Duke through the number of his commissions.1 Raphael
also painted by Julius’s orders a portrait of the Duke which is in
the chamber of the Vatican where the Pope himself appears.?
The two portraits might well have been completed from a single
sketch, as were perhaps those of Julius himself. Doubtless the
death of the Pope caused an interruption to the decoration of
the 4 Heliodorus ’ chamber, and during this interval it has been
supposed that Raphael executed the first large commission for
Agostino Chigi, for a letter to Castiglione,3 which may be dated
from the next year, speaks of the 4 Galatea ’ as now finished,
and refers to the fresco on the walls of the Farnesina palace.
Perhaps also about this time the fresco of the 4 Sibyls ’ and
4 Prophets ’ in Sta. Maria della Pace was begun at Chigi s expense.
But both these dates are purely conjectural.
With Leo’s accession the busiest period of Raphael’s life
began. He was confirmed in the commission to complete the
4 Heliodorus ’ chamber, altering his designs and his subjects to
suit his new patron’s wishes, but retaining by his own will or by
1 Letters of 11th Jan. and Feb. 1513, p. 7. The portrait was then abandoned owing
to Raphael’s anxiety on account of the Pope’s health. Castiglione in 1521 refers to it as an
existing picture. A portrait of the Duke was in the collection of Charles i. (Campori, Notizie,
1870, pp. 7 and 8).
2 Documents cited, L’ Arte, 1903, p. 108.
3 Passavant, App. vii. p. 501. The letter was first printed in Bino’s collection, 1582.
See Crowe and Cavalcaselle, ii. 205.
94