Raphael, La Velata, 1514-1515, Palazzo Pitti, Florence(Image Source)
I can't remember if I've posted on this painting before, I feel as though I have but I'll do this pic anyway since I had it on file. If Botticelli is an artist I came to dislike as I got older, Raphael is the opposite. Born in Urbino Italy, Raffaello Sanzio (1483-1520), is one person who defines *High Renaissance* art. A painter and architect, he is right up there alongside the other great masters and his contemporaries, Michelangelo and Leonardo da Vinci.
La Velata depicts an unknown woman and I can tell you that pic up there doesn't do it justice. I didn't think it was that great but my mind was changed when I saw it in person and realised how beautiful it was. Maybe it was the mild Florentine sun, but the painting has a wonderful golden quality that makes her look soft and serene and loved. The sfumato (smokey blending) around her face is particularly lovely. Having seen it in person, I can understand the apocryphal story surrounding this work. Legend is that Raphael fell in love with the daughter of a baker and he started pining away until she agreed to become his mistress (or he was allowed to make her his mistress). Either way, La Velata is supposedly a depiction of her. It is also believed to be the counterpart to his other painting, La Fornarina.
Incidentally, I have seen La Fornarina in person, and I hate it. If I didn't know the provenance can trace it back to Raphael, I would have called it a fake.
La Velata depicts an unknown woman and I can tell you that pic up there doesn't do it justice. I didn't think it was that great but my mind was changed when I saw it in person and realised how beautiful it was. Maybe it was the mild Florentine sun, but the painting has a wonderful golden quality that makes her look soft and serene and loved. The sfumato (smokey blending) around her face is particularly lovely. Having seen it in person, I can understand the apocryphal story surrounding this work. Legend is that Raphael fell in love with the daughter of a baker and he started pining away until she agreed to become his mistress (or he was allowed to make her his mistress). Either way, La Velata is supposedly a depiction of her. It is also believed to be the counterpart to his other painting, La Fornarina.
Incidentally, I have seen La Fornarina in person, and I hate it. If I didn't know the provenance can trace it back to Raphael, I would have called it a fake.
2 comments:
Reminds me how I felt when I first saw Lord Leighton's piece at the NSW gallery. Some things u just have to see in person.
Raphael! :D
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