#sfmato

[shayberri789]

ITS SO PRETTY I LOVE IT

Okay, I need to say, the art in Tress of the Emerald Sea is so good you guys. So good.

I can’t wait until I can get ahold of a hardcover!

[jrwdfw-blog]

Raphael. The Deliverance of St. Peter. 1514. Fresco. Vatican City, Rome, Italy.

  Raphael (born Raffaello Sanzio da Urbino, 1483-1520) was a High Renaissance-era architect and painter. As a young child, he began training with his father before becoming an apprentice in Florence. Raphael quickly distinguished himself as a genius, and today stands as one of the three masters of the Renaissance along with his greatest influencers and rivals, Michelangelo and da Vinci. He was also a Neoplatonist, swept up in the philosophical concepts that sprung force from the Renaissance’s open minded ideals. Raphael’s interest in an existential soul, human origin, and teleology bleeds through in some of his most famous works such as The School of Athens, a Vatican fresco representing philosophy and the pursuit of knowledge beyond what can be provided by religious texts. Though Raphael was also known for portraying the human body in typical Renaissance format (men as uber-muscular Adonises and women as well-fed, pale, and soft bodied) his mastery of the implication movement within these works is what makes him atypical. Raphael was considered a Leonardeschi (student of da Vinci), and was significantly younger than da Vinci himself, but he is credited with influencing the sfumato (smoke-like shading to create life-like texture of skin and atmosphere, the technique is colloquially attributed to da Vinci) in da Vinci’s Mona Lisa, which is what gives Mona Lisa her famous coquettish smile. If these feats weren’t impressive enough, Raphael was exceptionally prolific, leaving behind a massive body of work after his sudden death at only 37 years old.

  In 1508, Raphael made his move from Florence to Rome, after being offered patronage by Pope Julius II to paint the Vatican’s Stanze (“Room”). This led to him being commissioned to create the fresco for four Vatican rooms in total: the Stanza della Segnatura (Room of the Signatura), the Stanza di Eliodoro (Room of Heliodorus), the Stanza dell’incendio del Borgo (The Room of the Fire in Borgo), and the Sala di Constantino (Hall of Constantine). There are many admirable frescoes in these rooms, but the one I would like to focus on is the Deliverance of Saint Peter. This fresco is part of three episodes, and shows an angel coming to Saint Peter in order to free him from King Herod’s prison. What stands out to me about this fresco is not the detailed human figures, but the use of chiaroscuro and landscape. On the left, there is the moon, shedding light onto the soldiers in their metal gear, and on the right is an angel, glowing over the stair steps. In the center, as the third and brightest light, is an angel bending over Saint Peter, trapped behind bars. His depiction of architecture, usage of geometry, and ability to create a focal point through the bars is astounding. The tessellating pattern of the bars cleverly reflects the architecture surrounding the fresco in the Stanza di Eliodoro, and draws the eye straight to it. Not only that, but his choice to show Saint Peter as an innocent prisoner is an interesting notion to put on the walls of arguably the most important Christian monument in the world, especially since Raphael seemed much more interested in philosophy than the Bible. The scene is thought to be a homage to Pope Julius’ previous title as the cardinal of Saint Peter in Chains, since Pope Julius died while Raphael was completing the rooms.

  Unfortunately, Raphael’s thoughts on these works can never be known, as his life was tragically cut short. Today, we can only enjoy the formative steps into what promised to be an exception career.

   https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raphael_Rooms

  https://www.biography.com/people/raphael-41051

  https://www.khanacademy.org/humanities/ap-art-history/early-europe-and-colonial-americas/renaissance-art-europe-ap/a/raphael-school-of-athens

  https://www.khanacademy.org/humanities/renaissance-reformation/high-ren-florence-rome/high-renaissance1/a/raphael-and-his-drawings

  http://www.museivaticani.va/content/museivaticani/en/collezioni/musei/stanze-di-raffaello.html

 http://allart.biz/photos/image/Raphael_22_Deliverance_of_Saint_Peter.html