Four masterly paintings telling stories. Painted by 3 different hands, each works in 4 dimensions thanks to narrative devices, as explained here.
history of painting
During this period spent mainly in Florence, he learned from the innovations of Leonardo da Vinci, who was there at the same time. Raphael’s own style emerges.
Bradamante is told that her lover is to marry another, and sets off to find him, staying at a strange castle. Astolfo flies the hippogriff to Ethiopia.
Some of his earliest independent paintings, including two wonderful pairs based on legend and contemporary literature.
Orlando swims the Strait of Gibraltar, Ruggiero meets Mandricardo in combat, and Rinaldo leads a night attack outside Paris.
After 1900, most of his paintings were portraits of young women. Some seem to have been made in search of a suitable husband.
Friend of Georges Seurat, his paintings were overtly Symbolist in the late 19th century, featuring St Genevieve, Hesiod and a muse.
At the time, Raphael was recognised as one of the most important artists in the whole Renaissance. Here’s his starting point, set by Giorgione, Perugino and others.
Finest stories of the infidelity of wives, four in a bed, Isabella’s ingenious if fatal means of maintaining her chastity, and the madness of Orlando.
His four best paintings viewed in their historical context, and consideration of the constraints that he painted under. What if?
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