Raphael ability to express emotions and evoke feelings

The Prado museum in Madrid, Spain, dedicates an exhibition to Raphael Sanzio and his workshop. This exhibition is very particular, because is devoted to the last years of the master’s life, when he lived and worked in Rome, as one of the most influential artists of his time.

One cannot speak of Raphael Sanzio in a few words. This is only a simple invitation to know him following different paths characterized by spaces and emotions.

The exhibit includes more than seventy signed works, paintings and drawings, all of them created in his last seven years of life; from the start of the pontificate of Leo X (1513) up to the artist’s death in 1520.

Space in the exhibition will also be given to the work of Raphael’s principal pupils and followers, such as Giulio Romano (c. 1449-1546) and Giovanni Francesco Penni (1488-1528), who worked under the master’s close supervision on the late commissions he received. 

You will admire some masterworks like The St. Cecilia’s altar piece (Bologna, Pinacoteca Nazionale), and I highly encourage you to take a look to  another holy woman, the Santa Catalina from the  Spanish painter Fernando Yañez de la Almedina , painted a few years before that of Raphael and extremely beautiful and evocative (probably my favorite canvas  at the Prado)

Raphael´s works is not only the result of his Renaissance ideals or the multiple artistic influences he received during his stay in Florence and in Rome. The light in his paintings is Italy´s  light and he always carried inside him that light, that air that left a lasting mark in his soul.

One can be a great painter only when he has a great soul and is able to express his soul through his artwork. Raphael´s drawings reveal his sweetness, strong sensations, and complex emotions.

And all of this is present in the the portrait of Baldassarre Castiglione ; where Raphael gives us a sensitive, lifelike image of his friend ,an image which, in a letter to his wife, Castiglione described as rather hauntingly lifelike. The gloomy tones and the immediacy of the picture show us a man who is listening attentively and thoughtfully to our conversation and seems about to respond, rather than someone so far away and above us that we can have no hope of gaining his ear. This image had a tremendous impact on later portrait painters from Rubens to Velázquez (in the portrait of Conde-Duque of Olivares)  and beyond, and for very good reasons. It masterfully celebrates intelligence, good taste, and good manners so that, even if we did not know the identity of the sitter (Italian courtier, diplomat, and writer, best known for his (The Courtier) , these qualities would be readily apparent to any sensitive observer.

On 11th of March 1525 Baldassarre Castiglione arrived in Madrid; and was received solemnly at the Imperial court, where he congratulated Charles V for his victory at Pavia.

It's been 487 years and in Madrid we are excited to receive this gentleman again. 

After his death in Toledo 1529 a monument was erected in the sanctuary of Santa Maria delle Grazie, outside of his birthplace at Mantua. It was designed by the pupil of Raphael, well represented in this exhibition too: Giulio Romano, and was inscribed with the following words:

“Baldasssare Castiglione of Mantua, endowed by nature with every gift and the knowledge of many disciplines, learned in Greek and Latin literature, and a poet in the Italian (Tuscan) language, was given a castle in Pesaro on account of his military prowess, after he had conducted embassies to both great Britain and Rome. While he was working at the Spanish court on behalf of Clement VII, he drew up the Book of the Courtier for the education of the nobility; and in short, after Emperor Charles V had elected him Bishop of Avila, he died at Toledo, much honored by all the people. He lived fifty years, two months, and a day. His mother, Luigia Gonzaga, who to her own sorrow outlived her son, placed this memorial too him in 1529”

I hope to have able able to give you some simple ideas to come and enjoy the exhibition

MADRIS IS ALL ABOUT ART, Madrid is buzzing !

Dealers, gallery owners, collectors and plain art lovers ( like you and me) all have a date once more with the latest art trends at ARCHITECTURE WEEK and  ESTAMPA in October. And the other fairs that have sprung up around it .For this edition, tha fair is unveiling a new look, making it easier to appreciate. At this time of year Madrid welcomes a host of visitors from all parts of the world who are interested in new forms of expression. And they want to make the most of their stay. For them and for everyone else check my list of the best places which are well worth a visit , which are innovating and proposing a new way of understanding life. Matta: The Open Cubew  , Andreas Fogarasi, Eugène Delacroix, and The Hermitage in the Prado I want to encourage you visit them  and strolling along the streets if you want to see the most vibrant side of Madrid and experience the city´s way of life.

Titian exploration of psychology of the human passion

"Years ago I decided that the greatest ned in our Country was Art...So I determined to make it my life work if I could" Isabella Stewart Gardner, 1917

 

After visiting the Isabella Stewart Museum and seeing the wonderful Titian’s table ‘The Rape of Europa’ I wonder how it got there from the Spanish collections. This masterpiece is very important for many reasons, for instance, when Velazquez first arrived to the Court, he finds Reubens (52 years old and at the height of his fame) copying the painting. The young Velazquez was very impressed with both the work of Titian and the painting skills of Reubens. It was a ‘coup de foudre’ with Rubens, whom he also admired much as diplomatic, commissioner, and nobleman. Near the end of his life, Velasquez pays tribute to Reubens and Titian in his painting ‘The Fable of Arachne’ (also known as ‘The Tapestry Weavers’), an allegory on the nobility of the art of painting and an affirmation of the supremacy of Velazquez himself.

The Titian picture was painted for Philip II of Spain in 1562. Which was the painting's travel history since it left Spain until its arrival to Boston? Tracing the movements of a work of art such as this one is a sort of detective work. I asked my friend MJ Gibson to search it in inventories and auction catalogues. The picture left the Spanish Royal Collection destined as a wedding present for Charles I of England . The painting remains first into the collection of the Duke of Orleans, eventually reaching England during the time of the French Revolution and Napoleon. For almost a century it hung in Lord Darnley’s collection before being sold, in the 1890s, to the great collector Isabella Stewart Gardner for £20,000, about $100,000 in those days. Drawing upon letters and accounts in the Colnaghi archives, the art historian J.Howard unravels the complex negotiations carried out by Isabella’s friend and young scholar Mr.Bernard  Berenson (''I am breathless after a two days' orgy, drinking myself drunk with 'Europa,' thinking and dreaming about her'')  which led up to its eventual sale and triumphant installation in Boston in 1896.

Indeed, many specialists and connoisseurs, considers ‘The Rape of Europa’ the greatest Italian picture hanging in United States collections.

¿Qué hace esto aquí? Museo Lázaro Galdiano

Me gusta la idea de que entremos en una exposición con una pregunta “ Que hace esto aquí?” tal vez porque lo cuadros que más me fascinan son los que más preguntas plantean, quizás por esa idea de diálogo con el artista y con su obra. Y sin duda porque en el Museo Lázaro Galdiano nos muestran  una propuesta muy original ( escasas son en nuestro país) y lo ha hecho de manera muy bella.

A veces el arte moderno , cito a Katherine Kuh “nos produce una sensación desconcertante “nos enfrenta con amargura hacia la extrañeza, la  falta de criterios para valorarlo, pero no siempre hay que ir tan allá, el arte es más simple tal vez… recuerdo que el profesor Cruz Valdovinos ( Velázquez, interpretaciones )  nos invitaba a profundizar en el conocimiento de  ciertas obras y a “sentirlas”.Las Meninas se sienten, cada vez que estoy delante de ellas veo algo nuevo, siento algo nuevo. El año pasado tuvimos la oportunidad de verlas dialogar con Las hijas de Edward Darley Boit, 1919 Sargent  MFA ( personalmente  fue una experiencia verdaderamente regocijante).Muchos han sido los artistas que han bebido de ésta fuente para inspirar parte de su obra. Hace apenas unos días mi colega Marta Laurent y yo discutíamos ciertos detalles del cuadro con los que ella trabajaba para explicar el Museo Picasso de Barcelona.

Uno de los aspectos más interesantes de la exhibición del MLG es  ver las obras contemporáneas junto a las fuentes que las han inspirado o con aquellas que nos gustaría que dialogaran, cada una con su propio discurso y sentirlas.

En el interior del museo es difícil no fascinarse ante las obras clásicas ( Las Meditaciones de San Juan Bautista del Bosco, Antonio Moro, Lucas Cranach, El Salvador Adolescente, Madrazo, Goya…) y os aseguro que os quedareis prendados de algunas obras de artistas contemporáneos  geniales y polémicos a partes iguales.

El resultado es la magia de la pintura.

Gemma García

The Young Ribera

It's Thursday and we must think about the weekend. Madrid will be bright and sunny,so take time to walk and relax on the terraces.  In the evening  go touring inside the Prado Museum, it is free, it is cultural and cool. There is a new exhibition about “The Young Ribera”, showing  some thirty works. One of its aims is to explain the evolution of the José de Ribera’s style until he became one of the most original and powerful naturalistic painters after Caravaggio.
http://www.museodelprado.es/en/pradomedia/multimedia/the-young-ribera/?pm_video=on&pm_audio=on&pm_interactivo=on
Another purpose of this exhibition is to show the activity of the Spanish artist during his stay in Rome and during the years following his establishment in Naples in 1616, a period poorly known until now.
When I leave the Prado in the evening I love the light reflected in the Jeronimos Church  and meet some friends in the Gin Room. Do you think it's a perfect plan? I think so!