Raphael and the Antique

Description

The Renaissance artist Raphael is known for his extraordinary frescoes, his sublime Madonnas, devotional altarpieces, architectural designs, and his inventive prints and tapestries. It was his use of ancient Roman models - classical sculptures, reliefs and paintings - that formed his much admired classical style, and influenced the styles of many later artists. In Raphael and the Antique Claudia La Malfa gives a full account of Raphael's prodigious career, from central Italy when he was 17 years old, to Perugia, Siena and Florence, where he first met with Leonardo and Michelangelo, to Rome where he became one of the most feted artists of the Renaissance. This book focuses and highlights Raphael's re-invention of classical models, his draughtsmanship and his concept of art, which he pursued and was still striving to perfect at the time of his death aged only 37, in 1520.

Claudia La Malfa teaches History of Art at the Loyola University Chicago in Rome, and is Visiting Lecturer at the University of Kent. Her previous publications include Pintoricchio a Roma. La seduzione dell'antico (2009).

"Following the thread of this classicism, as it is both broadly and narrowly defined, in Raphael's art from the beginning of his career to the end is the method of La Malfa, an expert guide whose earlier work on Pinturiccho and the antique harbingered the present study. Framed by a graceful introduction and conclusion, four chapters examine different aspects of Raphael's creative genius. Though their titles--'Creation, ' 'Imitation, ' 'Natural Artifice, ' and 'Invention'--suggest a thematic approach, the chapters themselves follow the standard chronological sequence. . . . La Malfa's deep knowledge about the modes of rediscovery of the antique in Renaissance Rome is brilliantly on display."-- "Renaissance Quarterly" "Celebrating the five-hundredth anniversary of the artist's death, this new study sheds light on particular aspects of Raphael's work and has a wonderful surprise at the end. . . . Fascinating."--David Ekserdjian "Evening Standard" "At the heart of Raphael's practice, and of La Malfa's book, is the city of Rome and its ancient remains, which Raphael fervently studied and 'recast in his own stylistic idiom' ancient architecture, painting, and especially sculptures that emerged almost daily from the ruins. Recommended."-- "Choice" "La Malfa's lively book follows Raphael's developing interest in antique forms in his paintings and drawings. . . . It serves as a readable general introduction to Raphael's art, for her analyses stretch well beyond the central theme."-- "Art Newspaper" "For centuries artists and the wider public viewed ancient art through the eyes of Raphael. La Malfa has provided a well-informed, accessible, and original account of his engagement with that art, skillfully integrated in a wider discussion of his career and achievements."--Charles Hope, Warburg Institute "Raphael's revolutionary kinship with the antique is unprecedented in its depth and intensity. In her well-researched, clarifying work, La Malfa offers a highly balanced appraisal of his thorough study of Roman monuments, as well as of his astonishing artistic intuition and experimental brilliance."--Salvatore Settis, chair of the Conseil Scientifique, Musee du Louvre, Paris