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The museum considers the last 30 years of the Renaissance polymath's work on paper in an exhibition that features a newly restored cartoon and the artistic fruits of two important friendships.
At the Legion of Honor in San Francisco, the first-ever exhibition of the Renaissance artist's rare, refined drawings reveals lesser-known aspects of his work.
Raphael's fresco "The School of Athens" in the Vatican is among the most famous images in art history. Part of what makes it so striking is the barrel vault towering over the figures. In creating this fictive space, modeled on the ruins... more
Raphael's fresco "The School of Athens" in the Vatican is among the most famous images in art history. Part of what makes it so striking is the barrel vault towering over the figures. In creating this fictive space, modeled on the ruins of the ancient Basilica of Maxentius in Rome, Raphael (1483-1520) was thinking not just as a painter but as an architect. Broadly, he was thinking more imaginatively about what the ancient world looked like than perhaps any of his contemporaries. They fetishized the fragments of the past, whereas Raphael took it upon himself to envision it in its full glory. In paint and in built form, he brought back the color, material richness and surface ornament of ancient architecture, together with its soaring interior volumes. This idea underpins "Raffaello. Nato architetto" ("Raphael. Born Architect"), an exhibition at the Palladio Museum here. Yet despite his great fame, and the historical significance of his buildings, Raphael's architecture is not widely known, in part because there is so little of it left. In Rome, one of his most important works, the Palazzo Branconio dell'Aquila, was razed in 1667; another palace was destroyed in 1937; the Villa Madama was only half completed and is now off-limits as a government building; and his church of Sant'Eligio degli Orefici is rarely open. In addition, Raphael left few architectural drawings, so anyone interested in him as an architectural thinker must rely on the evidence of a few remaining structures, photographs and prints of the destroyed or inaccessible ones, and some paintings and tapestries. Undeterred, guest curators Arnold Nesselrath and Howard Burns, together with the director of the Palladio Museum, Guido Beltramini, have assembled an illuminating exhibition. It comprises drawings and early printed books, newly created models (such as those for the Palazzo Branconio dell'Aquila and Villa Madama), and large-scale reproductions of works of art. The Raphael that emerges is one who in his paintings, built works and writings set forth a vision of how to recreate the lost wonders of ancient Rome, one that the next generation of architects, including Palladio (whose Palazzo Barbarano houses the museum), would continue to pursue. Anonymous drawing of the east facade of the courtyard of the Palazzo Branconio dell' Aquila PHOTO: BIBLIOTECA NAZIONALE CENTRALE, FIRENZE The curators argue that architectural thinking was essential to Raphael's approach from the beginning. They ground his career as an architect in his study of antiquity. This was hardly unique in his generation, yet Raphael stood apart for the depth and passion of his engagement. He was committed to reviving aspects of ancient Roman achievements, something we see not only in his buildings, but also in his famous letter to Pope Leo X, a copy of which is in the show, advocating the preservation of ancient
Queue Mayor Eric Adams has proposed cutting city subsidies for New York's libraries by $13.6 million this fiscal year and $20.5 million in each of the next three years. It's a shocking and shortsighted plan, destined to hurt all New... more
Queue Mayor Eric Adams has proposed cutting city subsidies for New York's libraries by $13.6 million this fiscal year and $20.5 million in each of the next three years. It's a shocking and shortsighted plan, destined to hurt all New Yorkers, from children to retirees, remote workers to freelancers. It also goes against the wisdom of history, which suggests that the smartest way politicians or the wealthy can ensure their longevity and bolster their reputation is by investing in the common good.
An exhibition juxtaposes the 14th-century master with shining works by current artists like Kehinde Wiley.
Six innovative weavings, made from designs commissioned by Pope Leo X, are on view at the Columbus Museum of Art, alongside nearly 50 other objects which serve to contextualize these works and their influence.
London's National Gallery, over 90 paintings and drawings show the span of Raphael's career and achievement.
Review of What the Ermine Saw by Eden Collinsworth
video link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uarWk0sJvsI

presentation at the National Gallery, Washington on Nov. 6, 2022
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with Flaminia Bardati and Francesco Paolo Fiore
With Mauro Mussolin
In many respects, Renaissance artists such as Michelangelo and Raphael crafted the image of the creative genius that we still hold today. But if we allow ourselves to look more closely at the artistic practices of these central figures,... more
In many respects, Renaissance artists such as Michelangelo and Raphael crafted the image of the creative genius that we still hold today. But if we allow ourselves to look more closely at the artistic practices of these central figures, we find a number of apparent contradictions. Rather than fonts of continuously new and original ideas, springing freely from their heads as we might have been led to imagine, we find that both artists borrowed or stole a great deal from each other, repeated themselves prodigiously, and collaborated widely. Taking examples from painting, architecture, and drawing, the lecture will suggest how the works of Michelangelo and Raphael suggest a distinct model for aesthetic invention and exploration.  
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Drawing architecture became a commonplace activity in sixteenth-century Italy, and many of the functions and habits associated with it today had their origin in Renaissance practices. With the increasing availability of paper, it became... more
Drawing architecture became a commonplace activity in sixteenth-century Italy, and many of the functions and habits associated with it today had their origin in Renaissance practices. With the increasing availability of paper, it became possible for architects to use drawing as a means of both arriving at new ideas and communicating them to patrons and builders. 1 While a few medieval drawings survive, and scattered examples can be found in earlier periods and diverse cultures, it was not until the late fif-teenth and early sixteenth centuries that they became a standard component of architectural practice. 2 Architectural drawing expanded throughout Europe during the sixteenth century, and new research on Netherlandish, German, Spanish, French and English draftsmen will allow a more inclusive picture of the diversity of graphic modes across the continent. 3 However, the greatest quantity of drawings that have surfaced thus far are Italian, and they will form the focus of this chapter. Despite the wealth of information contained in Renaissance drawings, several factors have clouded their study. First, scholars often view them through an anach-ronistic lens, mistaking their similar appearance to modern architectural drawings for equivalence in scope and function, and thereby misconstruing their achievements and failings. Second, drawings are often considered exclusively in relation to a completed building and are thus seen as a means to an end. In other words, their significance is often presumed to lie in the information they can yield about what is construed as the actual locus of interest – the building. The corollary to these attitudes in relation to drawings of existing buildings, principally antiquities, is the expectation that they adhere to modern standards of archaeological precision and thereby provide accurate information about the buildings they represent. A third problem within discussions of architectural drawings has been a tendency to read them through the theoretical texts that describe them. Scholars repeatedly cite a small number of key passages from a few texts as if they described practice, which in general they do not.
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twitter link to article:  https://t.co/3lKAGFT2HA
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BOSTON, MA (January2016) – Spotlighting single important works from the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, the new program, “Close Up,” offers a fresh perspective on hidden masterpieces. Piermatteo d’Amelia’s Annunciation (c. 1487) debuts... more
BOSTON, MA (January2016) – Spotlighting single important works from the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, the new program, “Close Up,” offers a fresh perspective on hidden masterpieces. Piermatteo d’Amelia’s Annunciation (c. 1487) debuts this initiative in February in Hostetter Gallery.

Forging a dialogue between art of the past and present, Piermatteo’s Annunciation accompanies a video installation by contemporary artist Bill Viola titled Study for Emergence, on special loan from the Yale University Art Gallery. Each artist engaged profoundly with the Christian tradition as it was envisioned in the Italian Renaissance. In keeping with Isabella Stewart Gardner’s determination to create meaningful dialogues between art of all eras, the relationships in subject matter between the artworks encourage visitors to seek connections between Renaissance and contemporary art otherwise difficult in the historic palace.


The Gardner’s Associate Curator Dr. Nathaniel Silver says, “Gardner’s Annunciation is beloved by many of our visitors for its harmonious perspective, and this exhibition offers an opportunity to get a closer look at its finest details. Some might also be surprised to find out that this altarpiece was made by the pope's favorite painter. Piermatteo d’Amelia skyrocketed to fame in Rome and was even invited to fresco the Sistine Chapel ceiling before Michelangelo. Despite his achievements, this Renaissance master was quickly forgotten.”

In 1900, Isabella Stewart Gardner fell in love with this magnificent altarpiece of the Annunciation and purchased it from the celebrated connoisseur and art dealer, Bernard Berenson, despite knowing little about the artist or its history. The altarpiece traveled from the tiny mountaintop church in rural Italy to Boston, making one leg of the journey in the false compartment of a smuggler's trunk.

With each annual installment of “Close Up” a single work of art from the collection will be moved from the historic palace and displayed in the museum's temporary exhibition gallery enabling visitors to see it in a new light. A short book written by Dr. Silver accompanies this presentation, including an account of Gardner’s hunt for the painting, rare photographs from the museum’s archives and the first ever biography in English of the painter. It will be available for purchase in Gift at the Gardner. Several public programs will also accompany the gallery presentation, offering behind-the-scenes stories of Gardner’s dramatic acquisitions and the artists.


Among the programs organized for “Close Up: Piermatteo d’Amelia’s Annunciation” are:

Isabella Stewart Gardner's Annunciation

Saturday, February 4, 2017, 3:30pm

Cammy Brothers, Associate Professor of Architectural History, Northeastern University School of Architecture and Nathaniel Silver, Associate Curator, Gardner Museum

In 1900, Isabella Stewart Gardner purchased a magnificent Annunciation through famed connoisseur Bernard Berenson. Little did she know of its history. Join Nathaniel Silver and Cammy Brothers for a conversation about this unknown masterpiece, the surprising career of its painter - once slated to paint the Sistine Chapel before Michelangelo stepped in - and his engagement with the latest Renaissance architecture.
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... in symbolic terms.',r> Considering thai tin-title of eaesar and other classical references were integral to Charles's construction of his... more
... in symbolic terms.',r> Considering thai tin-title of eaesar and other classical references were integral to Charles's construction of his identity as emperor ... façade, it in part accounts for lhe anomalous, anachronistic relation of the palace of Charles V to Renaissance architecture. ...