All Topics  
Portrait of Pope Julius II (Raphael)

 
Portrait of Pope Julius II (Raphael)

 
   Email Print
   Bookmark   Link
 

 

Portrait of Pope Julius II (Raphael)
 
 
  Topics Portrait of Pope Julius II (Raphael) Topic Home

The Portrait of Pope Julius II is a painting attributed to the Italian
Italy

Italy , officially the Italian Republic , is a country located on the Italian Peninsula in Southern Europe and on the two largest islands in the Mediterranean Sea, Sicily and Sardinia....
 High Renaissance
High Renaissance

The High Renaissance, in the history of art, denotes the culmination of the art of the Italian Renaissance between 1450 and 1527. Because Pope Julius II patronized many artists during this time, the movement was centered in Rome; it had previously been centered in Florence....
 painter Raphael
Raphael

Raphael Sanzio, usually known by his first name alone was an Italy Painting and architect of the High Renaissance, celebrated for the perfection and grace of his paintings and drawings....
. Three portraits that have been attributed to Raphael of Pope Julius II
Pope Julius II

Pope Julius II , nicknamed Il Papa Terribile , was born Giuliano della Rovere. He was Pope from 1503 to 1513. His reign was marked by an aggressive foreign policy, ambitious building projects, and patronage for the arts....
 as an old man exist: in the National Gallery, London
National Gallery, London

The National Gallery in London, founded in 1824, houses a rich collection of over 2,300 paintings dating from the mid-13th century to 1900 in its home on Trafalgar Square....
, in the Uffizi Gallery
Uffizi

The Uffizi Gallery , one of the oldest and most famous art museums in the world, is housed in the Palazzo degli Uffizi, a palazzo in Florence, Italy, Italy....
, Florence
Florence

Florence is the Capital city of the Italy Regions of Italy of Tuscany and of the provinces of Italy Province of Florence. It is the most populous city in Tuscany and has a population of 364,779 ....
 and in the Palazzo Pitti
Palazzo Pitti

The Palazzo Pitti , in English sometimes called the Pitti Palace, is a vast mainly Renaissance palace in Florence, Italy. It is situated on the south side of the Arno River, a short distance from the Ponte Vecchio....
, also Florence. A thorough investigation of the London painting by Cecil Gould
Cecil Gould

Cecil Hilton Monk Gould was a British art historian and curator who specialised in Renaissance painting. He was a former Keeper and Deputy Director of the National Gallery, London in London....
 and others has proved it to be the original. The version in the Uffizi is now said to be from Raphael's workshop, while that in the Palazzo Pitti has been attributed to Titian
Titian

File:Tizian 090.jpg Tiziano Vecelli or Tiziano Vecellio, born 1473/1490 , died 27 August 1576, better known as Titian , was the leading painter of the 16th-century Venice school of the Italian Renaissance....
 by some experts.






Discussion
Ask a question about 'Portrait of Pope Julius II (Raphael)'
Start a new discussion about 'Portrait of Pope Julius II (Raphael)'
Answer questions from other users
Full Discussion Forum



Encyclopedia


The Portrait of Pope Julius II is a painting attributed to the Italian
Italy

Italy , officially the Italian Republic , is a country located on the Italian Peninsula in Southern Europe and on the two largest islands in the Mediterranean Sea, Sicily and Sardinia....
 High Renaissance
High Renaissance

The High Renaissance, in the history of art, denotes the culmination of the art of the Italian Renaissance between 1450 and 1527. Because Pope Julius II patronized many artists during this time, the movement was centered in Rome; it had previously been centered in Florence....
 painter Raphael
Raphael

Raphael Sanzio, usually known by his first name alone was an Italy Painting and architect of the High Renaissance, celebrated for the perfection and grace of his paintings and drawings....
. Three portraits that have been attributed to Raphael of Pope Julius II
Pope Julius II

Pope Julius II , nicknamed Il Papa Terribile , was born Giuliano della Rovere. He was Pope from 1503 to 1513. His reign was marked by an aggressive foreign policy, ambitious building projects, and patronage for the arts....
 as an old man exist: in the National Gallery, London
National Gallery, London

The National Gallery in London, founded in 1824, houses a rich collection of over 2,300 paintings dating from the mid-13th century to 1900 in its home on Trafalgar Square....
, in the Uffizi Gallery
Uffizi

The Uffizi Gallery , one of the oldest and most famous art museums in the world, is housed in the Palazzo degli Uffizi, a palazzo in Florence, Italy, Italy....
, Florence
Florence

Florence is the Capital city of the Italy Regions of Italy of Tuscany and of the provinces of Italy Province of Florence. It is the most populous city in Tuscany and has a population of 364,779 ....
 and in the Palazzo Pitti
Palazzo Pitti

The Palazzo Pitti , in English sometimes called the Pitti Palace, is a vast mainly Renaissance palace in Florence, Italy. It is situated on the south side of the Arno River, a short distance from the Ponte Vecchio....
, also Florence. A thorough investigation of the London painting by Cecil Gould
Cecil Gould

Cecil Hilton Monk Gould was a British art historian and curator who specialised in Renaissance painting. He was a former Keeper and Deputy Director of the National Gallery, London in London....
 and others has proved it to be the original. The version in the Uffizi is now said to be from Raphael's workshop, while that in the Palazzo Pitti has been attributed to Titian
Titian

File:Tizian 090.jpg Tiziano Vecelli or Tiziano Vecellio, born 1473/1490 , died 27 August 1576, better known as Titian , was the leading painter of the 16th-century Venice school of the Italian Renaissance....
 by some experts. There is a possible cartoon for the London version in the Palazzo Corsini, Florence, and a red chalk drawing at Chatsworth House
Chatsworth House

Chatsworth House is a large country house at Chatsworth, Derbyshire, Derbyshire, England 3? miles Ordinal direction of Bakewell . It is the seat of the Dukes of Devonshire, and has been home to their family, the House of Cavendish family, since Bess of Hardwick settled at Chatsworth in 1549....


Pope Julius II gave this painting to the church of Santa Maria del Popolo
Santa Maria del Popolo

Santa Maria del Popolo is a notable Augustinian church located in Rome.It stands to the north side of the Piazza del Popolo, one of the most famous squares of the city, between the ancient Porta Flaminia and the Pincio park....
, where after his death it was displayed on important feast days. In 1591 it was "purloined" from the church by Cardinal Paolo Emilio Sfondrati
Paolo Emilio Sfondrati

Paolo Emilio Sfondrati was an Italian Cardinal .Born to a noble family in Milan and the nephew of Pope Gregory XIV, he was the cardinal priest of Santa Cecilia, papal legate in Bologna, member of the Congregation of the Sant'Offizio and a good friend of San Filippo Neri....
, the Pope's nephew. He put his collection on the market a few years later, and it was nearly all sold to Cardinal Scipione Borghese
Scipione Borghese

Cardinal Scipione Borghese was an Italy Renaissance prelate, art collector and member of the noble Borghese family....
. This painting was in the Borghese Collection
Borghese collection

The Borghese Collection is a collection of Roman sculptures, old masters and modern art collected by the Roman Borghese family, especially Cardinal Scipione Borghese, from the 17th century on....
 in 1693, as a small inventory mark at bottom left shows. It presumably left the collection in the 1790s, and was in the Angerstein Collection by 1823, and was acquired by the National Gallery in 1824, so that it can be traced with confidence back to the ownership of the sitter, unlike the other existing versions.

The Pope
Pope

The Pope is the Bishop of Rome, the leader of the Roman Catholic Church and head of state of Vatican City. The current pope is Pope Benedict XVI, who was elected April 19, 2005 in Papal conclave, 2005....
 who had commissioned the pictorial cycles
Raphael Rooms

The four Stanze di Raffaello in the Apostolic Palace form a suite of reception rooms, the public part of the papal apartments. They are famous for their frescoes, painted by Raphael and his workshop....
 and other works that had so contributed to the artist's fame, is depicted in a portrait "so animated and true to life that it was frightening to behold, as though it were actually alive" (Vasari
Giorgio Vasari

Giorgio Vasari was an Italy Painting and architect, who is today famous for his biography of Italian artists, considered the ideological foundation of art history writing....
).
Raffael 049
The painting shows the Pope seated with the camauro
Camauro

A camauro is a cap traditionally worn by the Pope of the Catholic Church.Papal camauros are of red wool or velvet with white Stoat#Stoats_and_humans trim and are worn, usually in winter, in place of the zucchetto, which in turn takes the place of the biretta worn by other members of the clergy....
 on his head, dressed in a white surplice and a crimson mantle (mozzetta
Mozzetta

The mozzetta is a short elbow-length cape that covers the shoulders and is buttoned over the breast. It is worn as part of choir dress by some of the clergy of the Catholic Church, among them the Pope, cardinal s, bishops, abbots, canons and religious superiors....
). Here the simple but effective tonal contrast, first used in the Portrait of a Cardinal, reappears. The Pope, though old, still seems very vigorous and the Della Rovere
Della Rovere

Della Rovere is a noble historical family of Italy. Coming from modest beginnings in Savona, Liguria, the family rose to prominence through nepotism and ambitious marriages arranged by two Della Rovere popes, Francesco della Rovere, who ruled as Pope Sixtus IV and his nephew Giuliano ....
 energy is clearly visible in the hand that grasps the right arm of the chair with strength and pride. The two acorn-shaped knobs on the back of the chair recall the Pope's coat of arms. Previous Papal portraits showed them frontally, or kneeling in profile. It was also "exceptional" at this period to show the sitter so evidently in a particular mood - here lost in thought. The intimacy of this image was unprecedented in Papal portraiture, but became the model,"what became virtually a formula", followed by most future painters, including Sebastiano del Piombo
Sebastiano del Piombo

Sebastiano del Piombo , byname of Sebastiano Luciani, was an Italy Renaissance-Mannerism painter of the early 16th century famous for his combination of the colors of the Venetian school and the monumental forms of the Roman school....
 and Velázquez
Diego Velázquez

Diego Rodr?guez de Silva y Vel?zquez was a Spain painting who was the leading artist in the Noble court of King Philip IV of Spain. He was an individualistic artist of the contemporary baroque period, important as a portrait painting....
.

The pattern of papal keys and tiaras just visible in the green curtain was originally painted gold to simulate embroidery, and the artist's change of mind here, and in other pentimenti,disclosed when the painting was scientifically assessed in 1969 prior to cleaning, is one of the main reasons for its acceptance as the original of several versions of the portrait.

The picture can be dated by Julius's beard, which he grew as a token of mortification at having lost the city of Bologna
Bologna

Bologna is the capital city of Emilia-Romagna in northern Italy, in the Po Valley , between the Po River and the Apennine Mountains, exactly between the Reno River and the S?vena River....
 in 1511 and had shaved off by March 1512. He was to die at 70 the following year. A choleric and active man, much criticised during his turbulent pontificate for personally leading his troops in strenuous military campaigns, he is represented as at once forceful - as in the left hand - aristocratic the right hand - and meditative. The portrait is in every way worthy of a patron unique in the history of art, a pope discerning and fortunate enough to have been served by three of the greatest artists of the High Renaissance
High Renaissance

The High Renaissance, in the history of art, denotes the culmination of the art of the Italian Renaissance between 1450 and 1527. Because Pope Julius II patronized many artists during this time, the movement was centered in Rome; it had previously been centered in Florence....
 - the architect Bramante, Michelangelo
Michelangelo

Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni , commonly known as Michelangelo, was an Italian Renaissance Painting, sculptor, architect, poet, and engineer....
 and Raphael.

External links