The Model's Pose: Raphael's Early Use of Antique and Italian Art
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The Model's Pose: Raphael's Early Use of Antique and Italian ArtAuthor(s): Michael W. KwakkelsteinSource: Artibus et Historiae, Vol. 23, No. 46 (2002), pp. 37-60Published by: IRSA s.c.Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1483696Accessed: 11-12-2015 20:42 UTC
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MICHAEL
W. KWAKKELSTEIN
The Model's Pose:
Raphael's
Early
Use of
Antique
and Italian
Art
ForDaniela
In
October 1504
the
twenty-one-year-old
Raphael
arrived
in
Florenceto learn and
perfect
his art. Thiswe can infer
from
the
oft-quoted
letter of introduction
by
Giovanna Feltria
della
Rovere
which
was addressed to Pier
Soderini,
the Gonfalo-
niere of the FlorentineRepublic.Among the firstworks of art
which
aroused
Raphael's
interest was
Michelangelo's
David
[Fig. 1].
The
giant
statue
had
been
erected
in the
Piazza della
Signoria
on 8 June of that
year
and
unveiled
exactly
three
months
later.1
From
that time onward
Michelangelo's
works
exerted a
pervasive
influence on the
Umbrian
artist. It
s there-
fore
surprising
that no more than a
single drawing
is known
which
illustrates
Raphael's
study
after the David
[Fig.
2].
Given
Raphael's
eagerness
to
learn and absorb the new
artis-
tic formulas and ideals of the great masters working in
Florence,
it
is difficult o
imagine
that his interest in
Michel-
angelo's impressive sculpture
could have
been limited
to its
back view.2
In
fact
it
has
long
since
been
accepted
that
Raphael's
interest
in the David
is manifest also
in
two
figure
studies,
one
in
the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford
[Fig.
3],
the other in
the
British
Museum
[Fig.
4].3
On
account of various
weaknesses
these
drawings
contain,
it
has
been
suggested
that
they
must
have
been executed some time
earlier than the more
faithful
copy
[Fig.
2]
in
which
Raphael
has
handled
the
pen
with
more
confidence and
understanding
of the
bodily
forms
observed.
The differences in
the
position
of the
arms and
legs
these
two
nude
figures
show
compared
to
the
statue are often
explained
by
assuming
that
Raphael
drew
either from
memory
or
from
a livemodel, takingthe pose of the David as a starting-point.4
These
explanations,
however,
would
imply
that
Raphael
reversed the
order of
study commonly practised
in
the
Renaissance
painter's
workshop:
he
made a
copy
after a
spe-
cific
sculptural
model
only
after he had firstused it
as a
point
of reference in
studies
from the live
nude model.
Moreover,
n
merely terming
these two
figure
studies "free
adaptations
of
Michelangelo's
David",
no
insight
is
gained
intothe
purpose
of
these
drawings
and the
reason
why
this
particular
stance
appealed to Raphael. In an attempt to specify further his
method of
study
and
interest
in
antique
and Italian
art,
in what
follows a reassessment
is offered of the
sources
and
dating
of
a
number of
well-known
igures
studies
by
Raphael
which are
usually
dated
to
his Florentine
period.
Atfirst
glance
the
pose
of the
nude
warrior
Raphael
repre-
sented in the
drawing
n
the
Ashmolean Museum
[Fig.
3]
sure-
ly
recalls that of
Michelangelo's
David. But a more
careful
comparison
reveals differences
that should
prompt
us
to
doubt whether
Raphael had the marble in mind at all. Inthe
drawing
the
often-mentioned
contrasting
sides of the
David,
37
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MICHAEL
W.
KWAKKELSTEIN
1) Michelangelo,
<<David,,marble,
Gallerie
dell'Accademia,
Florence.
Photo: Soprintendenza per i beni artistici e storici di Firenze.
38
- . -
.
-
-
eI
i'- I ,
...
._
.4
.
,ki_.
^"'^^a^^^^
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THE
MODEL'S OSE:
RAPHAEL'SARLY SE OF ANTIQUE
NDITALIANRT
2) Raphael, <<Study
fter
Michelangelo's
David,,,
The British
Museum, London.
3) Raphael, <<Study
f a Nude
Model,,
Ashmolean
Museum,
Oxford.
39
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MICHAEL
.
KWAKKELSTEIN
his so-called closed
right
and his
open
left
side,
are much less
evident.
By emphasizing
the
model's
torsion,
and
placing
the
right
arm
slightly
bent behind the
prominent hip
instead of
hanging
down
heavily,
Raphael
rendered the
contrapposto
posture
more
conspicuous
than
the
figure
Michelangelo
carved. The different
position
of
the
arms,
the
stronger
torsion
and sideward thrust of the
model
in
Raphael's
drawing
indi-
cate that the
scope
of this
study
was to
explore
the
impression
of
animation,
depth
and volume
produced by
this classical
stance.
Though Raphael may
have looked at similar
represen-
tations
in
the works of fifteenth
century
masters such as
Donatello, Verrocchio,Pollaiuoloand Mantegna,in this case,
as
I
aim to
show,
he turned
directly
to
antique
art as a source
of
inspiration.
The
pose Raphael depicted
in
the Oxford
drawing
bears
a
striking
resemblance to that of the
soldier
standing
to the left
of
Trajan
n
the Adventus relief
frieze of the central
passage
of
the Arch of
Constantine
in
Rome
[Fig.
5].5
Since the
dating
of
the Oxford heet to
Raphael's
Florentine
period
has
long
been
accepted,
this
connection
to the
Antique
would lend further
supportfor the intriguingheoryadvanced by John Shearman
that
Raphael
had visited Rome
in
1503 and
again
in
1506 or
1507.6
Unfortunately,
Raphael's
drawings
whichare datable to
1503-1508
provide scanty
evidence for these
experiences.
One
might
assume that
during
these
hypothetical
Roman
sojourns
Raphael,
then a
diligent
and
inquisitive
student,
made numerous
drawings
after he
Antique
and other works of
art for
study
and
documentary purposes.
He would
certainly
not have limited himself to
drawing
the few
references
to
Rome mentioned by Shearman. Ifwe are inclined to believe
Raphael
travelled to Rome
prior
to 1508 then we have to
accept
that,
with
the
exception
of a few
drawings
which could
support
Shearman's
theory,
all of
the records from these two
journeys
are lost.
However,
upon
careful examination of the
poses
illustrated
n
a numberof
Raphael's figure
studies dated
to his Florentine
period,
it is
possible
to cite
additional exam-
ples
which
give weight
to the
theory
of
Raphael's presence
in
Rome
on
earlier occasions.
In
seeking
to
demonstrate
further he
validity
of this theo-
ry,
t is
necessary
to consider firstthe
availability
o
Raphael
of
intermediate sources. As has often been
pointed
out,
draw-
ings
after the
Trajanic
battle reliefs on Constantine's Arch cir-
culated
in
Florentine
workshops
from the 1460s.7 The heroic
stance
of the Roman soldier from the Arch of
Constantine
relief
in
particular
had
appealed
to Maso
Finiguerra
nd David
Ghirlandaio
[Fig.
6]
who both drew the rear
view of a
life
model
holding
that
pose.
Domenico
Ghirlandaio
made few
alterations when he borrowed this
antique
soldier for his
depiction
of MutiusScaevola on the
right-hand
wall of the Sala
* *
f;
'
.
x
*\
.
I_
4)
Raphael, <(Study
f a Nude
Model,,
The British
Museum,
London.
40
iqh
" d
r .
,I
-
*
t '...
a
9
: ?.?. ?
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THE
MODEL'S OSE:RAPHAEL'S
ARLY
SE OF
ANTIQUE
NDITALIANRT
5)
<<Trajanic
attle
frieze>,
Arch of
Constantine,
Rome.
Photo:
Faraglia,
Deutsches
Archaologisches Institut, Rome, neg.
no. 37.328.
dei
Gigli
in the
Palazzo
della
Signoria
in
Florence.8
During
his
stay
in Rome
Perugino undoubtedly
made
drawings
after the
triumphal
arch
and its reliefs
preparatory
o its
depiction
in
the
fresco Christ
Giving
the
Keys
to Saint Peter
in
the Sistine
chapel. Upon
returning
o his
workshop
in
Perugia
in
1484
he
would have made
these
drawings
accessible to his
pupils
and
assistants.9
Finally,
t
is not inconceivable that
the stance of
Michelangelo's
David
is derived from this
specific antique
model which
Michelangelo
could have
copied during
his first
Roman
sojourn
of 1496-1501.10
Though
copies
after the Arch
of Constantine reliefs may have been readily available to
Raphael
while he was
in
Florence,
the
working
procedure
he
adopted
in the
Oxford and London
drawings strongly
sug-
gests
that direct contact with the
Antique
rather han
drawings
by
others
had excited his
interest
in
examining
the
expressive
potency
of this
pose
from various
angles.
In
looking
at the
Raphael drawing
in
the British Museum
[Fig. 4]
we find the same nude model
portrayed
as
in
the
drawing
in
the Ashmolean. The model
holds an identical
pose
but is viewed from
the side while
spear
and
shield are omit-
ted. He does not advance
actively
to the
right,
as is often
claimed, but rests with his weight fully on his right leg in
41
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MICHAEL
.
KWAKKELSTEIN
6)
David
Ghirlandaio,
<<Study
f a
Standing
and
a Seated
Man,>,Gabinetto Disegni e Stampe degli Uffizi,Florence.
Photo:
Soprintendenza
per
i
beni artistici e storici
di
Firenze.
a
carefully
balanced
contrapposto pose.
With the
aid
of
a
staff,
the
top
of which is
just
visible
in
his
left
hand,
the
model maintains this pose while holding his body upright.
Viewed
from this
angle
the
pose
recalls
that of the
Apollo
Belvedere.11
Unlike
Michelangelo's
David,
the above-men-
tioned
antique
warrioron the Arch of Constantine
offers a
lim-
ited
range
of
angles
of
view,
making
the use of a live model
adopting
the
warrior's
pose
more
urgent.
The
studying
of
fig-
ure
poses represented
in
sculpture,
whether
antique
or con-
temporary,
whether
in
relief or
in
the
round,
from the live
nude
model
had become standard
practice
in
Florentine
workshop
at the
turn of
the
century.
It
was
adopted by Perugino
and its
usefulness
evidently appealed
also
to the
young
Raphael.
Drawing
from the live nude
model enabled
him to
study
the
antique
heroic
pose
from different
angles
and to
develop
fur-
ther his awareness
of anatomical structures
and
sensitivity
to
the
human
body.12
Closely
related to these
drawings,
both
thematically
and
stylistically,
s
Raphael's study
of Three
Standing
Nude Men on
a sheet
in
the
British Museum
[Fig. 7]
which
is dated to
1504-1506.13
It
has remained
unnoticed that
the
pose
of
the
right-hand
igure
closely
corresponds
in reversewiththat of the
7) Raphael, <<Studyf Three Standing Nude Men,,,
The British
Museum,
London.
Apollo
Saurocthonos
in
the
Archaeological
Museum
in
Naples.
At
the
beginning
of the sixteenth
century
he statue
belonged
to
the Sassi collection
in
Rome
and is
illustrated n the left
in
the
background
of
Marten an
Heemskerck's
drawing
of the court-
yard
of the Casa Sassi in the
Kupferstichkabinett
n Berlin
42
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THE
MODEL'S OSE:
RAPHAEL'S
ARLY
SE OF
ANTIQUE
NDITALIAN
RT
8)
Marten
van
Heemskerck,
<(Courtyard
f the Casa Sassi
in
Rome>,
Kupferstichkabinett,
Staatliche
Museen
zu Berlin-
PreuBischer
Kulturbesitz.
Photo:
Jorg
P.
Anders,
Berlin.
[Fig.
8].
Artistswho
copied
after his headless
marblewere
par-
ticularly
nterested in the
emphasized
torsion of the muscular
back.
In
Raphael's renderings
this is shown
in
the British
Museum
drawing
more
clearly
than
in
the
drawing
in
the
GraphischeSammlung
Albertina
n
Vienna or
whichthis
antique
model from the Casa Sassi
had
previously
been
recognized
as
a source [Fig.
9].14
The Albertina rawing s dated to 1509-1511,
but a
dating
to
Raphael's
Florentine
period
should be
preferred.
Not
only
does
it
reveal
Raphael
as a less mature
draftsman,
as
Shearman
also
observed,
but it contains a sketch of a bound
captive,
the
figure
o the
right
of the torso
in
the
center,
which is
identical
o a
figure appearing
in
the lower left-handcorner
of
a
sheet
from the so-called Verrocchio-sketchbook
Fig.
10].
In
fact the resemblance is so close that
Raphael may
well
have
copied
from
this sheet. On the other
hand,
both
figures
could
share a common source
which was also known
to the
sculptor
of a
Flagellation
elief
ormerly
ttributed o Donatello.15
The
possibility
that
Raphael's familiarity
with
the Casa
Sassi torso
prior
o 1508 is
based on direct contact is
strength-
ened
by
the fact that the left-hand nude
figure
of the
group
in
the BritishMuseum
drawing [Fig.
7]
recalls
another torso from
the same
Roman collection. Two
drawings by
Marten van
Heemskerck after this
piece
enable
comparison
which leaves
little
room
for doubt.
In the
drawing
of the
courtyard
he torso
is
standing
in
the second niche from the
right [Fig.8],
while it
is also
represented
in
the second
study
from
the
right
on the
verso of folio 51 from
his Roman
sketchbook,
also
in
Berlin
[Fig.11].
In
addition,
n
Raphael's drawing
he
sharp
turning
of
the figure'shead is similar o that of an antique model copied
in
a
drawing by
Amico
Aspertini
on a sheet
from the Codex
Wolfegg
for
which,
however,
no
antique
source
has hitherto
been identified.16
The fact that two
antique sculptures
from the Casa Sassi
can be
recognized
as the source
of
inspiration
or
figure
stud-
ies datable
to
Raphael's
Florentine
period, strongly suggests
that these
drawings
were
made on the
spot.
No
drawings by
other artists
after these
torsos to which
Raphael
could
have
had access while in Florence are known.These similarities o
antique
sculptures
in
Rome,
if
acceptable,
provide
further
up-
port
in
favour of Shearman's
theory.
Furthermore,
if
these
drawings
were made
in
Rome
prior
o
1508,
then
they
should
be excluded
from the
homogeneous group
of
drawings
once
conjectured by
Fischel to have
formed
part
of the so-called
'Large
FlorentineSketchbook'.17
As has often been
noted,
while
in
Florence
Raphael
learnt
most
of the
Antique through
other artists'
renderings.
This
should surprise us given the fact that in Florence Raphael
could have
turned to the
antiquities brought
to the
city
by
wealthy
humanist
collectors,
the Medici and artists
as Dona-
tello,
Ghiberti
and Giuliano
da San
Gallo.
In
addition
to
possi-
ble
travels to
Rome,
numerous
plaster
casts
and
copies
after
the
Antique,
executed in various
media,
circulated as
study
materials
in
Florentine
workshops
to which
Raphael
must
have had
easy
access.18
In
order to
understand the
develop-
ment of
Raphael's approach
to
Antiquity,
t
is
necessary
to
clarifyfurther his workingmethod and early interests as
he
sought
to master the
convincing rendering
of the human
figure
in
the few
years prior
o his
known
stay
in
Florence.
One
of
Raphael's drawings
which has
always
been consid-
ered to be best
representative
of his
early study
of fifteenth-
century
Florentineart
all'antica,
in
particular
culptural
reliefs
and
plaquettes,
is
the Hercules
Fighting
with ThreeCentaurs
n
the Uffizi
Fig.
12].
Since a
dating
of this
drawing
o the end of
Raphael's
Umbrian
period
is
acceptable,
his
familiarity
with
Florentine
models
suggests early
visits to
Florence,
most
likely
accompanied by
Perugino.19
It has been observed
that,
43
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MICHAEL
.
KWAKKELSTEIN
9) Raphael,
(<Sheet
with Studies of a Male Torso Seen on the Back and Four Studies of a Naked
Youth,
his
Hands
Tied Behind his
Back)),
Graphische
Sammlung
Albertina,
Vienna.
despite
the classical
subject
matter,
the
figures
in the Uffizi
composition
do not reveal the influence of the
Antique,
but
reflect
Raphael's knowledge
of the works of
Antonio
Pollaiuolo,
as
especially
manifest
in
the
figure
of Hercules. This is certain-
ly
true,
and
though
Hercules
appears
to be an
adaptation,
in
reverse,
of the axe-wielder at the left
in
Pollaiuolo's
engraving
of the Battle
of Nude
Men,
it is also this
figure
which lends itself
for
comparison
to a classical source.20
A
sarcophagus fragment
of a Bacchic
Procession,
now
in
Berlin, ncludes on the far left a figureof a dancing satyrinpro-
file to the left who carries a krater of wine. This model was
copied by
a draftsman from the circle of Giovanni
Bellini on
a sheet with other studies afterthe
Antique
and seems to have
inspired Raphael
for
the
unusually dynamic
pose
of
Hercules.21
Interestingly,
in
adapting
the
satyr's
somewhat
awkward
pose, Raphael
and the Venetian
artist made similar
adjustments.
In
Raphael's drawing
this is understandable
because the
figure's
action serves a
particular
unction
within
the narrative context.
Naturally
the
possibility
can not be
excluded that Raphaelworked from sheets withother artists'
44
-.
_...... . . >
~." - * .,
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THE
MODEL'S OSE:RAPHAEL'S
ARLY
SE OF
ANTIQUE
NDITALIANRT
copies
afterthe
Antique.
Those scholars who have
considered
the
possibility
of a
trip
o Venice made
by
Raphael
in
1505,
and
where he would have met Giovanni Bellini,willwelcome the
thesis that
Raphael's
Hercules is
borrowed from the above-
mentioned
drawing
rom Bellini's
workshop.
However,
he dat-
ing
of the Uffizi
drawing
to about 1503 does not
permit
to
assume such a connection.22
Be that as
it
may,
the Uffizi
drawing unmistakably sug-
gests
direct
contact
with
works
of art
in
Florence. For
nstance,
the
position
of the arms of the left-hand centaur
corresponds
to that of two
soldiers
painted by
Bartolomeo di Giovanni
in
the background of Domenico Ghirlandaio'sAdoration of the
Magi,
dated
1488,
in
the
Ospedale
degli
Innocentiand to that
of the soldier Ghirlandaio
depicted
in
the
background
of
his
fresco of the
Slaughter
of the Innocents
in
the
Tornabuoni
Chapel
in
the
Santa
MariaNovella. Given
Raphael's
early
inter-
est
in
the work of
Donatello,
he
may
have known the latter's
Medici-Crucifixion relief
(Museo
Nazionale del
Bargello,
Florence)
in
which this movement is
adopted
for the
profile ig-
ure who is shown
hammering
a nail
in
the
right-hand
cross.23
Furthermore,he torsion of the pose of the left-handcentaur is
similar o that of the centaur
in
Antonio Pollaiuolo's
Hercules,
Nessus and Deianeira
in
New Haven.
Finally,
in
Raphael's
drawing
the lower
part
of the
body
of the
right-hand
centaur
resembles that of the
rearing
horse on the left
in
the back-
ground
of Pollaiuolo's
Martyrdom
f
St
Sebastian,
while the
centaur's
upper part
suggests
Raphael's
close
study
of
Pollaiuolo's
pen drawings (e.g.
Hercules
and
the
Hydra
n
the
BritishMuseum
in
London).24
Withregardto Raphael's interest in Pollaiuolo'smodels,
a
pen
and
ink
drawing
of a Horseman
Fighting
Two Foot
Soldiers on the recto of a sheet
in
the Accademia
in
Venice
[Fig. 13] presents
an
interesting
case. This
drawing
has been
connected to
Raphael's study
for the
Storming
of
Perugia
and
a
Pollaiuolesque drawing
of the Battle of Nude Men
in
Windsor
for which an attributiono the
young
Raphael
has been
sug-
gested
on various occasions
[Fig.
14].25
While it is true that
the
representation
of nude combatants
in
energetic
movement
is
what these
drawings
have
in
common,
the
fact remains that
the nude
figure
seen
from the back
in
the Venice
drawing,
recurring
n
reverse
in
the
Storming
of
Perugia, provides
the
only
direct
link with
the Windsor
drawing
in
which the
figure
standing
to the left of the central warriorassumes an identical
posture.
The action is
the
same,
both raise a shield
with their
left arm while
in the
right
hand one holds a
spear
and one
a sword. Did
Raphael
borrow this
figure
from the Windsor
drawing
or do
both
figures
share a common source?
Though
the MonteCavalloDioscuri
may
come to mind
first,
he closest
parallelto this figure is providedby a soldier standing in the
f
.
.
4-
.
',
b9
Si 1-
?Ir
it ?
*
r
I i
???:;,
'Li
*(
?lr.
'.S'L
I
10)
Francesco Simone
Ferrucci,
<<Sheet
with
Figure
Studies>,,
Departement
des Arts
Graphiques
du Mus6e du
Louvre,
Paris.
R.F.447 verso.
foreground
of a battle
relief on
Trajan's
column
[Fig.
15,
fifth
figure
from the
left].
That
this
particular
cene also includes
the model for the
figure's
assailant
in
the
Windsor
drawing
supports
this connection.
But what about
Raphael?
Drawings
after reliefs on
Trajan's
olumn
may
have been known to
him
and he could have been
particularly
nterested
in
copies
or
renderings
by
Pollaiuolo
and,
as
will
be shown
below,
Perugino.As LaurieFusco pointed out some years ago, there
45
I
.
\
'
.-..
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MICHAEL
.
KWAKKELSTEIN
11)
Martenvan
Heemskerck,
<<Four
tudies after
Antique Sculptures)> formerly
n
the Casa Sassi
in
Rome),
Kupferstichkabinett,
Staatliche Museen
zu
Berlin-PreuBischer
Kulturbesitz.Photo:
Jorg
P.
Anders,
Berlin.
is reason to assume that Pollaiuolo was
in
Rome
during
the
1460s.
In
that case the date of
1467,
inscribed on one of the
earliest known
drawings
after
Trajan's
column,
now in
Chatsworth,
would no
longer
present
a
problem
for its
attribu-
tion to the school of Pollaiuolo.26
The
interesting theory, put
forward
by
Ames-Lewis and
Clegg,
that the Windsor
drawing
represents
a faithful
copy
after
a
ten-figure-groupcomposition by
Pollaiuolo,
now
lost,
withthe addition of
figure-types
derived from other
sources,
is
supported
by
comparison
of the facial
type
and
impassive
look of the fallen warrior
n
the
foreground
to that of the
figure
of Eve in a pen and ink drawing by Pollaiuolo in the Uffizi
(97F).27
n
addition,
Eve's left
leg
is
nearly
identical to the left
leg
of the helmeted
warrior hown
lunging
at the
warrior
n
the
center,
while a similar
pattern
of lines indicates their
kneecaps.
Interestingly,
he nude warrior
tanding
in
the
foreground
on
the
right
of the
Windsor
drawing
served as
the model for the
second centaur
from the
right
in
a cassone
painting by
Bartolomeo di Giovanni
n
Horsmonden
(Kent)
which
is data-
ble to the 1490s.
This work includes
borrowings
from
Pollaiuolo's
Battle
of
Nude Men
engraving
and
the
engraving
of Hercules and the Giants
based on his
design.
If Bartolomeo
was familiar
with
the
Windsor
drawing,
and not the lost
original
it most likelyrecords, its currentlyaccepted datingto the early
46
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THE
MODEL'S OSE:RAPHAEL'S
ARLY
SE
OF ANTIQUE
NDITALIAN
RT
12) Raphael,
<<Hercules
ighting
with
Three
Centaurs,,,
Gabinetto
Disegni
e
stampe
degli
Uffizi,
Florence. Photo:
Soprintendenza per
i
beni artistici e
storici di Firenze.
13) Raphael, <<HorsemanightingTwoFootsoldierso,
Gallerie
dell'Accademia,
Venice.
sixteenth
century
should
be
changed
to about 1490 or
even
some
years
earlier.
Hitherto
unnoticed,
a
briefly
sketched
drawing
of a battle
in
the Uffizi
(349Ev)
which is attributed o
Pintoriccho,
shows a similar
combination of
figures
borrowed
from the Windsor
composition
with those borrowed from the
Hercules and the Giants
engraving.28
According
to the
findings
of
Ames-Lewis and
Clegg,
the
above-mentioned
warrior,
een from the
back in the Windsor
drawing,
would
be
one of the ten
figures
which was
copied
from the lost Pollaiuolo
composition.
The identificationof
the
antique
source from which this
figure
derives,
the soldier on
Trajan's
olumn,
provides
us
with
information
on Pollaiuolo's
interests
and
working
procedure.
This
is relevant to the
pre-
sent discussion because
it
could
help
to define further the
extent
of
Raphael's
indebtedness to Pollaiuolo
and the
begin-
nings
of
his assimilation of the ancient
idiom. As a
pioneer
in
rendering convincingly the anatomy of the human figure in
motion
and at
rest,
Pollaiuolo contributed
n
a
significant
man-
ner
to the dissemination
of the
classical
language
of form
and
expression.
In
addition to his famous
and
a now lost
bronze relief
showing
the battle
of nude
men,
of
which,
according
to
Vasari,
every
artist in Florence owned a
plaster
cast,
his
drawings
above
all were
greatly
admired
by
the
"sculptors
and
painters
of the first rank"
who
kept
on
studying
and
copying
them well into the sixteenth
century.29
In
the lost
figure-group drawing
Pollaiuolo
represented
a battleof nude men.30
Though
he
composition
cannot be relat-
ed
to a
specific antique
source,
as we have
seen some of
the
fig-
ures can. The warrior
aising
his shield
on the far
right
of
the
Windsor
drawing
derives from a
figure
represented
on a now
dismantled Amazonomachiasarcophagus, which about 1491
47
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MICHAEL
.
KWAKKELSTEIN
-?
.i<3),,,":^
',
*S
~~~~~~~~~~\.'
';
'''.-
{,i
i
i'""-}i"
\':"'-;\~"
.
':i'
-
_^
./r "'-. :
:'
.-
.;"
. .^'
*
.^\:
v
;-r~^
I
'w
~'-""
"r
~""
...-
' ;
"
.
^
:'
~
. ...;
~
f
....
"'1
.. .'-
;'
-
. .
. .
.
*'. "
'-
,':(
'l""'-}"
^
^
:
^
'
-
^
''-Y
^
,^ ^
-
?ICr
f
",~':
'-~-.
. . .
.
-
....:..
?
:..--,.
-
. ,
.
~-.. -
.
.
..,_=,--.,.
i ?
'.
.
~' ;;~-."
~~~~~~~~~?*:j
".':.~*.i.~-
",/
''-
'.
?
'
. -
''"'"'"
:?
~"''":I
.'I
'
:
~l
':",.?-'*
.:, .
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~'"
'
'.
'
;..'
::.'".:
:'~"
e"
?.,~~ ~ ~...,. -. ',..,'""~. -':
,~~;;.~-"'.'.";.
.'..~_"*
......
~~~~~~~
:"
------.e,',.:,~(,,'"
,,~,.
:;?'''?
i
'r. Zk ?:'1?
..:.'..; ? ?C:,.. ..r? ?... ? .?-':?:=. .'- ' ` '''
14)
After
Pollaiuolo,
((Battleof Nude
Men,,
The
Royal
Collection
?
2001,
Her
Majesty
Queen Elizabeth
II.
stood at the entrance to SS. Cosma e Damiano n the
Roman
Forum.
Comparison
o this model as recorded
n
a
drawing
after
the
sarcophagus by
a member of
FilippinoLippi'sworkshop
in
Oxford
supports
this connection.31
Furthermore,
he
prostrate
warrior
n
the
foreground
of the Windsor
drawing obviously
refers
to an
antique
model as this
pose
was
widespread
in
ancient art.
However,
Pollaiuolo
may
not have borrowed this
type
of
pose directly
rom an
antique
source,
as
he did on
other
occasions,
for
it
is
strikingly
imilar o that of the
prostrate
ol-
dier behindthe dead
body
of Goliath nGhiberti'sDavid rom he
Gates of Paradise.This resemblance accords well with he infor-
mation
provided by
sixteenth-century
ources that in his
youth
Pollaiuolo worked
with
Ghiberti on the second
Baptistery
doors.32
Finally,
he
pose
of the helmeted warrior
dvancing
to
the left while
holding
a
spear
in
both
hands,
closely
resembles,
in
reverse,
the
lunging pose
of
Meleagercharging
the boar with
a
spear
as
represented
n
sarcophagus
reliefsof the
Calydonian
hunt and
in
a classical marble statue which
appears
to have
been
in
Rome at least before 1497.33
From hese few
comparisons
it
can be inferred hat
it
was
Pollaiuolo'spracticeto put a live nude model into the pose he
had sketched after
antique
and 'modern'
sculpture.
He then
combined these
figures
on one sheet as he
sought
to
compose
a battle scene all'antica
with
exemplary
nudes.
In
addition to
the
relationships
between Pollaiuoloand the
Antique
here
pro-
posed,
I
would like to draw attention to the
striking
similarity
between a nude
figure
on a Bacchic
sarcophagus
with the
Discovery
of Ariadne in the
Belvedere
Statue Court in the
Vatican,
and the nude dancer Pollaiuolo frescoed
on the far
right
of
the
frieze
in
the VillaGallina
n
Arcetri.Given the
dating
of these frescoes to the
early
1470s,
this connection
provides
further
support
for the
theory
that Pollaiuolo visited Rome
in
the 1460s.
Furthermore,
he terracottareliefinthe Victoriaand
Albert Museum
in
London,
based on Pollaiuolo's
design,
shows his
familiarity
with a Roman frieze
fragment depicting
the Battle
of
the Romans
against
Gauls. The frieze
was
in
Rome
until t
was taken
to Mantua n
the
mid 1520s. The second war-
rior rom the
right
n
the
background
of
the
terracotta
s a faith-
ful
copy
of the second warrior romthe left of the frieze.
All
his
leads
to
the conclusion
that,
contrary
o the current
opinion
of
some
scholars,
Pollaiuolo
closely
imitated
antique
sources.
Hence in copying afterPollaiuolo, he young Raphaelfamiliar-
48
,
,/'.
i::
'I .
I ??;
i;? c'.
P;? i.??' ':.?
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THE
MODEL'S OSE:RAPHAEL'S
ARLY
SE OF
ANTIQUE
NDITALIANRT
15)
((Battle
rieze,,,
Trajan's
Column,
Rome. Photo: Deutsches
Archaologisches
Institut,Rome,
neg.
no. 89. 764
ized himself
with
a
variety
of
types
of active
poses
found
in
antique sculpture.34
It
is
commonlyaccepted
that
Raphael's drawing
n
Venice
[Fig.
13]
reflects his
knowledge
of the
preparatorydesigns
for
the battle
piece
Leonardo was commissioned to
paint
on the
wall of the Sala del Gran
Consiglio
in the Palazzo della
Signoria
in
Florence. Therefore he
drawing
s
generally
dated
to about 1505-1506.35
However,
the
elongated
proportions
of
the
figure
on the verso
[Fig.
16]
and the
type
of
advancing
movementwiththe
right eg
stretched rearwardare still heavi-
ly dependent on Perugino'sworkshopformulae.Infact a dat-
ing
to
Raphael's
Umbrian
period
seems
preferable
for a num-
ber of reasons.
First,
the facial
type
of the
figure,
its
pointed
features,
the inclinationof the head and the
mannerin which
the
curly
hair s
indicated,
are
closely
reminiscent
of the model
Raphael depicted
in two
early drawings
of about 1500.36
Second,
the
pose
of the
nude
figure
seen on the
back on the
recto is
identical,
in
reverse,
to that of the soldier on the leftof
Raphael's
Saint Jerome
Punishing
the Heretic Sabinian
in
Raleigh,
usually
dated
to 1503.
In the
same
year
Raphael
adopted
this
pose
for the foot soldier
in
the
foreground
of the
modello for Pintoricchio's fresco of The Journey of Aeneas
49
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MICHAEL
.
KWAKKELSTEIN
,
.
'
. . .. .
*?i ? ?
~CI;t??ii
r?1
R '~~~~~~~N
/i
I N
*
. .."
'
:
'
'
:
'
;'
;,;
"
*
*
'
***
:-.
'
I
.
.
;
'-
:.
i
'
.,'
:^
~ ~
'
''
*-~~~~~
.
.
-
.;. . . . '
.
.'
?
.
i
.".i~.:'~
.".."
. '.,'. "',."
'".',,'..?.,,... ~~~~~~~~~~~.r
16) Raphael, (<Study f a Nude Standard-Bearer),
Gallerie
dell'Accademia,
Venice.
Silvius Piccolomini to
Basle
in
the Piccolomini
Library
in
Siena.37
Third,
the
pose
of the
right-hand
oot soldier on the
recto is
closely
comparable
to that of the
figure pulling
the
rope
tied to
Christ
n
The
Procession
to
Calvary
n
The National
Gallery
in
London of about
1502-1503.
Significantly,
the
recently
revealed
underdrawing
of this
painted
figure
is similar
in
style
to the Venice
drawing,
as is the Uffizi
drawing
of
Hercules
Fighting
with
the
Centaurs,
datable
to
1503.38
Finally,
the
stiffly
rendered horse recalls the
type
of horse
Raphael
illustratedon the left of the modello for which the horse
in
the
background
on the left of Pollaiuolo's
Martyrdom
of St Se-
bastian served as a model. The horse
in
the near
foreground
of the modello is an almost literal
borrowing
rom the left-hand
horse of the group in the far background on the right of
17) Raphael,
((Studies for Two Guards
in
a
Resurrection,,,
Ashmolean
Museum,
Oxford.
Pollaiuolo's
picture,
while the rider is based on the rider
Pollaiuolo
depicted
on the extreme left of this work.39
Rather than
revealing
direct
contact
with the
Antique
or
the influence of
Leonardo,
the
drawing
on
the recto of the
sheet
in
Venice
[Fig.
13]
demonstrates
Raphael's
indebted-
ness to Pollaiuolo. Yet
it
also shows his
continued interest
in
Perugino's stereotypes
for the
pose
of the
right-hand
oot sol-
dier
closely
resembles that
of the
soldier
on the far left
in
the
backgroundof Perugino'sAgonyin the Garden,paintedabout
50
r....
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THE
MODEL'S POSE: RAPHAEL'S
EARLY
USE OF
ANTIQUE
AND ITALIAN RT
1490 for the Jesuits of the
San Giusto
in
Florence and now
in
the
Uffizi.40
That
in
addition
Raphael may
have used a
sculp-
tural model when faced withthe problemof drawinga rearing
horse is
suggested by
the fact that
the horse illustrated
n
the
Venice
drawing
recurs,
seen from another
angle,
in
the car-
toon for the St
George
and the
Dragon
in
Washington
of about
1505 where the horse's head is
similarly
turned to the left.
Given
Raphael's special
interest
in
Pollaiuolo and the latter's
practice
of
sculpting
or
clay-modelling
figures
as devices for
study
and
aids
for
working
out
compositions,
Pollaiuolo
may
well have been
the author
of
this
particular
model as
it
appears, seen from yet another viewpoint, in his Hercules,
Nessus
and
Deianeira.
Clearly
he horse's head and neck have
been
replaced by
the human
body
of the
centaur,
but the tor-
sion and
pose,
like the
position
of
the hind
legs,
are similar.41
In
turning
our attention to the
drawing
on the verso of the
Venice sheet
[Fig. 16],
we find that the
walking
pose
of the
youth
is
closely comparable
to
that
of
a
figure
on a famous
antique
gem illustrating
he
Triumph
f
Dionysus
in
the Museo
Nazionale in
Naples.
Renaissance derivations of
the
gem,
bearingLorenzode Medici's nscription,circulated n Florence
and were known to
Perugino
who
adopted
the
pose
of the
psy-
chiai
pulling Dionysius'
chariot for the two soldiers
advancing
on the
right
in
the
background
of the
Agony
in
the
Garden.
Close
comparison
between the nude
in
Raphael's drawing
and the left-handsoldier reveals that he
copied
Perugino's fig-
ure,
only
changing
the
position
of the head and arms.
Perugino
reused
the soldier's
pose,
in
reverse,
for the soldier
walking
next to
Judas
in the
Agony
in
the Garden
which,
as
mentionedearlier,served as the model for the right-hand oot
soldier on
the
recto of the sheet
in
Venice.
With
regard
to the
availability
of
drawings
after the
Antique
to
Raphael
while
working
with
Perugino,
it
is
interesting
to see that the soldier
and Judas
in
Perugino's
picture
both derive from a
pair
of
advancing
soldiers
in
a battle relief on
Trajan's
olumn.42
Inview of the
relationships
here
presented,
it
can be con-
cluded that the
drawings
on both sides of the sheet in
Venice
provide
additional
examples
of
how,
early
in
his
career,
Raphael
assimilated classical motifs
through drawings
after
the
Antiqueby Perugino
and Pollaiuoloand
perhaps
the
latter's
sculptural
models all'antica.
A
dating
to about
1502-1503
for
the
drawing
n
Venice entails a similar
dating
of the
stylistically
close studies for the
Storming
of
Perugia
in Paris and
Vienna,
usually
dated to about 1505. These studies not
only
reflect
Raphael's
interest
in
Pollaiuolo,
as has often been
noted,
but
also
contain
the
reversed
image
of the model viewed on the
back inthe
drawing
on the recto of the sheet inVenice.43
The use of various
sources
within
a
single composition
is
indicative for the eclectic method Raphael adopted for work-
18)
Woodcut from J. P
Bergomensis, <<Supplementum
Chronicarum,>,
enice
1486.
ing
out
compositions.
In
looking
at the Uffizi
drawing
of
Hercules
Fighting
with Three Centaurs
[Fig.
12],
it
becomes
even clear that
Raphael
assembled his
figures
by combining
individual
imb
motifs he
copied
after Pollaiuolo's
designs.
In
addition o the
examples
cited
earlier,
t
can
be
noticed
that the
left leg of Hercules in the Uffizidrawingis identical to that of
the
lunging
warriorwith the
spear
in
the Windsor
drawing,
while the torso of the left-handcentaur
closely
resembles that
of the left-hand archer.The
upper part
of the
warrior,
een on
the back on the
right
of the
Windsor
drawing, may
well have
served as the model for that of the centaur
in
the near fore-
ground.
In
additionto the
presence
of a
shield,
the similar or-
sion of the back and
position
of the
right
arm
strengthen
this
connection.
Finally,
as has been said
earlier,
he
upper part
of
Hercules
closely
corresponds,
in
reverse,
to that of the axe-
wielder
on the left of Pollaiuolo's
engraving
of the Battle of
Nude
Men.
This
working procedure may
be
exemplified
by
another
drawingpredatingRaphael's
Florentine
period.
Ina
study
con-
nected with the
Sao
Paulo
Resurrection,
of about 1502
[Fig. 17], Raphael aithfully opied
the
complex pose
of the
fig-
ure of Adam
in
a woodcut
in
the
Supplementum
Chronicarum
of J.
P.
Bergomensis, published
in Venice in 1486
[Fig.
18].44
Curiously,
the
upper part
of
Raphael's figure,
when seen
in
reverse, bears also a strikingresemblance to that of the figure
51
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MICHAEL
.
KWAKKELSTEIN
of Bacchus
in
Mantegna's engraving
of a
Bacchanal with
a WineVatdatable
to the
early
1470s,
whereas the
position
of
the figure's legs corresponds to a classical type of walking
pose
which was
adopted frequently by
Verrocchio,
Pollaiuolo
and members
from
their
workshop.45Comparably,
he
pose
of
the
figure
shown
fleeing
to the
right
n
Raphael's
St Jerome
in
Raleigh
is an exact
copy,
in
reverse,
of that of the
figure
of St
John the
Baptist
in
Ghirlandaio's
Meeting
of Christ and St
John the
Baptist
in the Wilderness
in
the Staatliche
Museen
Gemaldegalerie
in
Berlin;
Raphael only changed
the
position
of the
figure's
head.
Untilhis move to Florencein 1504 Raphaelclearlyadhered
to the
persisting
medieval
pattern-book
approach
in
which he
followed
Perugino's
example.
About
1503
the art of Pollaiuolo
aroused his interest
in
the
representation
of the
nude
figure
in
action. As illustrated
by
the Uffizi
drawing
and the
drawings
on
the two sides of
the sheet
in
Venice,
Raphael
constructed
his
animated
figures
for narrativescenes
by combining
stereo-
typed
movements,
poses,
and
gestures
which he borrowed
from other artists'
work.
In
cases
when he
faithfully
dopted
the
entirepose of a figure,he varied on the source bysimple rever-
sal,
sometimes
changing
the
position
of the arms
or the
head.46 Once
in
Florence,
he
began
to abandon this method
for the
study
fromthe
live nude model.
At
first
Raphael
showed
little nterest
in
active
poses, portraying
he nude
figure
in
bal-
anced
contrapposto poses
inspired by
Florentine
sculptures.
In
this
study
some
of these
figure
studies have been related
to
antique sculptures
in
Rome
thereby lending
further
upport
to
the
theory
that
Raphael
had visited Rome
before his firstdocu-
mented
stay
inthat
city
on
January
13,
1509.47
In
concluding
this review of
Raphael's
sources and the
working
methods he
adopted
in
studying
the
human
figure,
it
may
be useful to
reconsider
the sources
upon
which
the follow-
ing
four
related
figure
studies are
usually
believedto
depend.
Raphael's
use of
live models for
the
study
of animated
poses represented
in famous works of
art,
whether
painted
or
sculpted,
ancient
or
'modern',
may
be inferred
rom a
drawing
on the
verso of the above-mentioned
sheet
in
the Ashmolean
Museum
[Fig.
19].
Amidst sketches
of a
man's
legs
appears
a fulllength study of a male nudewhose attributes,a book and
a
sword,
would
identify
him
as St Paul.
However,
he combina-
tion of the
model's sullen
looks,
slightly
bent
head and relaxed
pose
would
speak against
such
an identification.
Despite
salient
differences,
it has often been stated
that the model's
pose
is
inspired
by
Donatello'sOr San
MicheleSt
George.48
This statue
has been
praised
and admired
by
its earliestcommentators
par-
ticularly
because
of its
strikingpose
and
bearing
hat was inter-
preted
to
convey
alertness,
proudness
and vividness.49
On
anotheroccasion, ina drawingalso inthe Ashmolean,Raphael
i
,
/
,.
'.
I
V,.
.
f
.
i
:f
t
I.
s
I. }
.~ .".. ,
i
.
f .
. , ...
.
\
i
.
.
tI
i
19) Raphael,
<(Study
f
a Nude
Man,,,
Ashmolean
Museum,
Oxford.
drew rom he nude model
posed
unmistakably
s Donatello's
St
George. Inthis drawingRaphaeldoes show his interestin and
sensitivity
o these
psychological
qualities
as he
attentively
pre-
served the
characteristic
usterity
of
the statue's
pose.50
Hence
it seems
improbable
that St
George's
much admired
stance
should
at the same
time have
inspired
Raphael
o conceive
a St
Paul as a man
who,
unlike
he
St
George,
stands
in
an
easy
con-
trapposto
posture
that
actually
ends itself
or better
comparison
to
Donatello'sOr
San MicheleSt Mark.51
As most of
his fellow
painters
of narrative
compositions,
Raphael was deeply aware of the psychological expressive-
52
.i?
. .
.:
;t
:-?51
t
I\
I
.I
4
.I
I
i
1;? j
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THE
MODEL'S
OSE:RAPHAEL'S
ARLY
SE OF
ANTIQUE
NDITALIANRT
~~~~g.
~ ~ ~
.
7
20) Raphael, <Study
of Two
Standing
Nude
Youths,,,
Graphische Sammlung
Albertina,
Vienna.
ness inherent to a
figure's
pose,
facial
expression
and
the
position
of
his
head.
During
he
design
process
of,
for exam-
ple,
the
Disputa
to which
I
shall return
shortly, Raphael
explored
numerous
poses
and combinations of
poses
which
would best answer
to his
concept
of
beauty, grace, variety
and
emotional and psychological expression. It was the lesson
21) Raphael, ((Study
of a
Standing
Nude
Youth,,
Graphische
Sammlung
Albertina,
Vienna.
learnt from
Leonardo,
especially upon seeing
his unfinished
Adorationof the
Magi,
which
changed
Raphael's
mode of
per-
ception
into
the direction of
pursuing
emotional
expressive-
ness above all
in
figure painting.
Eventually
his
development
would culminate
dramatically
n
the
Transfiguration,
aphael's
last painting.
53
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MICHAEL
.
KWAKKELSTEIN
22)
Adriano
Fiorentino,((Hercules,, bronze,
Museum
Boymans-van Beuningen, Rotterdam.
In
the
Graphische Sammlung
Albertina
n
Vienna is
kept
a sheet with
drawings
on both sides
of a
standing
male nude
[Figs. 20, 21]. Its attribution o Raphael, proposed by Konrad
Oberhuber in
1964,
has not been
unanimously accepted.52
According
to
Oberhuber,
these
standing
nude
youths,
"are
ultimately
based on a
Michelangelesque interpretation
f clas-
sical
examples",
more
specifically,
on a
figure
in his battle car-
toon.
Furthermore,
e
acknowledged
the
difficulty
n
establish-
ing
the
drawing's purpose
and
suggested
the
figures may
have been
"intended for some
large
historic scene."53
Subsequent
commentators of the
Albertina
drawing
have
linked the pose of the nude figure on the verso to Raphael's
study
of
Michelangelo's
David.54 In
looking
at
the model's
contrapposto pose
a resemblance to the marble
giant may
be
noticed.
However,
he different
position
of the
left arm makes
the
figure
as a whole
closely
similarto well-known
Florentine
all'antica
representations
of Hercules. A
comparison
to
Adriano
Fiorentino's bronze statuette
in
Rotterdam
of about
1490,
is
particularly
ewarding[Fig.
22].
It has
been observed
that Adriano
was
inspired
by
an ancient
sculpture
of Hercules
which is now
lost but was
depicted by Mantegna
in
the back-
ground
of a fresco
in
the
Camera
degli Sposi
in
Mantua.This
connection
fails to convince since the
figure's legs
in
Mantegna's
fresco
are
posed quite differently.
t
seems more
likely
hat the late
fourteenth-century culpted
Hercules on
the
Porta della Mandorlaof
the Florence Cathedralserved as the
model
upon
which Fiorentino's Hercules
and,
indirectly,
Raphael's
standing
nude
depend.55
The
importance Raphael kept
on
assigning
to
sculptural
models for the
study
of
figural
poses
may
be furtherdemon-
strated
by
a
study
for
Apollo
in the
Wedding
Feast of
Cupid
and
Psyche
in the villa Farnesinaof circa
1518
[Fig.
23].
It
has
been observed
long ago
that
the motif of the bent left
leg sug-
gests Raphael's
knowledge
of an
antique Apollo,
formerly
n
the Grimanicollection
in
Venice,
now in the
Archaeological
Museum of that
city.
Yet
a
much closer
resemblance can be
noticed between the
figure's
pose
and
that of
a Florentine
bronze
statuette of Hercules
in
Repose
in
the FrickCollection
in
New
York,
datable to
1510-1515
[Fig.
24].
In
fact the resem-
blance is so striking that we are led to wonder whether
Raphael
may
have worked from the
actual
bronze,
rather han
from
a live model
assuming
the statuette's
pose.56
To return o the
sheet
with
studies from the male nude
in
the
Albertina,
he
pose
of the
figure
viewed
in
profile
to the
right
on the recto
may
well
reflect some of
Michelangelo's
sculpted
and
painted
figures:
his
Bacchus, and,
seen in
reverse,
the
youth
on
the far
right
n
the Manchester Madonna.
Though
close
comparisons
could be drawn also to a stereo-
typed figure-pose recurrenton Greek grave steles of young
54
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THE
MODEL'S
OSE:RAPHAEL'S
ARLY
SE OFANTIQUE
NDITALIAN
RT
''' ' '
?I?.?;? "-
?''?D '' '
''
??"
"-' ? *?'f
-?.
:''
:?
L
'e ?::
:-i ?????
-?'
j: "':
-?? ?? ???"'?
: :L-""??r.
-? ?r
??.
... ,1?
..i;"?'?
.riZ ?" ??
?? : ? ?-.. r?
..
?:I
.:r,??;??.?-i?
$:
t ''
:I:
'"
??? ':?h;f*?
?C`-* ??
'r *.*
* I
.;,';'
???,l;'.
?. '
;? ?
r..
?.
??
i? - -
?.?
23) Raphael,
<Study
of a Nude Seen on
the
Back),,
Graphische
Sammlung
Albertina,
Vienna.
24)
Florentine,
arly
16th
entury,
Hercules
in
Repose, (back
view),
brol-e.
Copyright
The Frick
Collection,
New York.
55
I
?? ?I'? ?j
.?
r
'? ???::.?i?
r:
'
??li'
it5
?'?
?-?
;,'
r '?? :
r
'..'
I,
r'? ,,?
"?"'
??:?:
.
'? r
??
..
?.,
s .?:
:r:
z
: ii
. I..r
'1
'
..?i*
?v- .;??,
rr
si ? ;X'
t
;r*'L
. il***--*
.3.i- I;r
:?:tJ'r ?:,
...
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I
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;?vr?
;?.: ,
h"' :"
'Ir -:
"
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MICHAEL
W. KWAKKELSTEIN
men and
women.57
Infurther
support
for
Raphael's
authorship
of the Albertina
drawing
is the
possibility
that the
pair
of nudes
on the recto originated in connection with Raphael's design
for a
group
of
disputants
in the left
foreground
of the
Disputa.
At
the far
left
in
the famous
preparatory
study
in
Frankfurt we
find a
pair
of
similarly grouped
and
posed
nudes.58
The draw-
ing
in
Vienna is dated
to the end
of
Raphael's
Florentine
peri-
od,
but a
dating
to
the
early
Roman
years,
1508-1509,
during
which he worked
on the
Disputa,
now seems
more
plausible.
Moreover,
the
man viewed
on the
back lends itself for
stylistic
comparison
to
a
study
in
the British
Museum which
presents
a variant of the left-hand figure seen on the back in the
Frankfurt
drawing.59
Though
it is
always
assumed that
the
fig-
ures
in
the Frankfurt
study
are drawn
from the live
model,
it
is
instructive
to see
that the left-hand
figure
seen on the back
is
a
copy,
in
reverse,
of
a soldier
in
Luca
Signorelli's
fresco St
Benedict
Welcomes the
Real
King
Totila
in
Monteoliveto
of
1497-1498,
while
the three
kneeling
men
are
clearly
reminis-
cent
of the
kneeling figures
on the left
side
foreground
in
Donatello's
relief of the
Miracle of the
Miser's Heart
in
the
Church of the Santo in Padua from which Raphael would bor-
row
figures
on a
later occasion.60
1
J.
Pope-Hennessy,
Italian
High
Renaissance
and
Baroque
Sculpture,
3
vols.,
London,
1955-1963,
vol.
III,
pp.
9-11.
2
Ph. Pouncey and J. A. Gere, Italian Drawings in the
Department
of Prints
and
Drawings
in the British Museum:
Raphael
and his
Circle,
2
vols.,
London,
1962,
p.
12,
no. 15. J.
A.
Gere and
N.
Turner,
Drawings
by
Raphael
from the
Royal
Library,
the
Ashmolean,
the British
Museum,
Chatsworth
nd other
English
collec-
tions,
exh.
cat., London,
1983,
no. 39.
These authors
all
point
to
the
adjustments
to
the marble
Raphael
made while
copying.
See
also G.
Gronau,
Aus
Raphaels
Florentiner
Tagen,
Berlin,1902,
p.
32
and,
more
recently,
J.
Meyer
zur
Capellen,
Raphael
in
Florence, London,1996,
pp.
120-121.
J.
Shearman,
"Raphael
and his Circle"
(review
of
Pouncey-Gere,
1962), Burlington
Magazine,
107
(1965),
p.
35,
claims
that Raphaelmust have
made
his
drawing
after a small
replica
of
the
finished
statue since
such a
distant
viewpoint
as
indicated
n
the draw-
The
relationships suggested
so far
demonstrate
Rapha-
el's close adherence to standard
Quattrocento
workshop
pro-
cedures. About 1503 the study of the art of Pollaiuolo prompt-
ed his shift
away
from
Perugino
and aroused
his interest
in
dynamic figural
poses, convincingly
rendered muscular
bod-
ies and the
Antique.
But
only
after
his arrival
in
Florence did
Raphael
turn
to
drawing
from
the live nude
model,
at first at
rest and
from about 1506-1507 onward
in
action.
In
doing
so,
he
abandoned his
treatment of the
human
figure
as
a
compos-
ite of
individual limb
motifs for that of
the human
figure
as an
organic
whole.
The
proposed
links to the
Antique
confirm
the
view that Raphael visited Rome prior to 1508 as proposed by
Shearman. Since
Pollaiuolo and
Perugino
used
sculptural
models
in
addition
to live models for
the
study
of the
human
figure,
it
seems
reasonable
to assume
Raphael adopted
a sim-
ilar
working
method.
Without the attentive
study
of these vari-
ous
types
of naturalistic
models,
especially
those made
by
Pollaiuolo,
once
in
Florence
Raphael
would
not have been
able
to understand and
assimilate as
quickly
and
successfully
as he did
the new ideals
concerning
the
representation
of the
active male nude he witnessed in the exemplary works of
Leonardo and
Michelangelo.
ing
was no
longer
possible
once
the statue
was erected. Also
referring
to
this
problem
s
P.
Joannides,
The
Drawings
of
Raphael
with a com-
plete catalogue, Oxford,1983, no. 97 (c. 1505),who suggests Raphael
drew
from "a
plaster
or wax model
or assembled
it from different
tud-
ies".
E.
Mitsch,
in: E.
Knab,
E.
Mitsch,
K.
Oberhuber,
Raphael:
Die
Zeichnungen, Stuttgart,
1983,
p.
100,
believes
Raphael'sdrawing
after
Michelangelo's
David constitutes
"keine
eigenstandige
kunstlerische
Variation,
ondern
eine relativ
getreue
Kopie."
For
Michelangelo's
influence on
Raphael,
see
A.
Forlani
Tempesti,
Raffaello e Michel-
angelo,
exh.
cat.
Florence, 1984,
and
by
the
same
author,
"Per
Raffaello
e
Michelangelo
e
Viceversa",
n:
Studi
su
Raffaello,
Atti del
Congresso
Internazionale
di Studi
(Urbino-Firenze
-14
aprile
1984),
Urbino,1987,
pp.
365-376.
3
K.T.
Parker,
Catalogue
of
the Collection
of
Drawings
in
the
Ashmolean Museum, vol. ii, The ItalianSchools, Oxford,1956, no.
56
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THE
MODEL'S POSE: RAPHAEL'S
EARLY
USE
OF
ANTIQUE
AND ITALIAN RT
522 recto.
Pouncey
and
Gere,
1962,
no.
14
recto,
summarizingprevi-
ous
opinions.
Gere-Turner,
983,
nos. 37 and 38.
Joannides,
1983,
nos.
87v;
85v
(c.
1504-1505).
4
F. Ames-Lewis, The Draftsman Raphael, New Haven and
London
1986,
pp.
41-42;
Meyer
zur
Capellen,
1996,
pp.
120-126. Both
authors omit
the Oxford
tudy
from heir
discussion
of
Raphael's
nter-
est in
Michelangelo's
David.
5
P. P. Bober and
R.
O.
Rubinstein,
Renaissance Artists
and
AntiqueSculpture.
A
Handbook
of
Sources,
New
York,
1986,
no. 158i.
6
Parker,1956,
no.
522,
who mentions
that Robinson's
dating
of
the
drawing
o
Raphael's early
Roman
period,
c.
1508-12,
is untenable
on
the
basis of the fact that
the
figure
"is a close
adaptation
of
Michelangelo's
David."
J.
Shearman, "Rome,
Raphael
and the Codex
Escurialensis",
Master
Drawings
15
(1977), pp.
107-146.
7
Bober-Rubinstein,1986,
no.
158,
provide
a
list
of
drawings
after the relief. See also G.
Agosti
and V.
Farinella,
Michelangelo
e
I'arte
classica,
exh.
cat.,
Florence,
1987,
p.
30;
A.
Natali
n:
II
Disegno
Fiorentino del
Tempo
di Lorenzo
il
Magnifico,
exh.
cat.
Florence,
Milan,1992,
p.
28,
no.
1.4. I
would
like
to add
Botticelli
o
the artists
mentioned
in these
publications,
or his Pallas
in the Uffizi
Pallas
and
the Centaur of about
1482,
closely
resembles the
figure
of
Victory
shown
crowning
Trajan
n
the above-mentioned
Adventus relieffrieze
(Fig.
5).
8
A.
Petrioli
Tofani,
Inventario:
Disegni
di
figura
1., Florence,
1991,
nos. 81F
(Maso
Finiguerra)
nd
107F
(David
Ghirlandaio).
See
also C.
L.
Ragghianti
and G. Dalli
Regoli,
Disegni
dal
modello, Pisa,
1975, cat. no. 74, fig. 93 and L.Melli,Maso Finiguerra,Florence, 1995,
cat.
82,
fig.
97. Domenico
Ghirlandaio'suse of this
specific
antique
source was noted
by
N.
Dacos,
"Ghirlandaio
t
I'antique",
ulletinde
I'lnstitut
HistoriqueBeige
de
Rome,
XXXIV
1962), p.
423.
9
Perugino's
interest
in
the
Antique
s
reflected
in
a well-known
drawing
of
the
so-called
'Idolino'
n
the
Uffizi,
hough
a
specific
source
has thus far
not been
proposed.
See S. Ferino
Pagden,
Disegni
Umbri
del Rinascimento
da
Perugino
a
Raffaello, Florence,
1982,
pp.
85-88,
no. 54.
It
has
escaped
notice
that the
figure
in
Perugino's drawing
appears
twice in
the Saint
Bernardino
Healing
the
Daughter
of
GiovanniPetrazio
da
Rieti of
an Ulcer
from
the series of
small
panels
for the so-called niche of St. Bernardino 1473), now in the Galleria
Nazionale
dell'Umbria,
Perugia.
In this
picture they
reflectthe
flying
Victories
in
the
spandrels
of the
Arch
of Titus. Cf. P.
Scarpellini,
Perugino,
Milan,
1984,
cat. no.
13,
fig.
14;
for a better
reproduction,
see
V.
Garibaldi,
Perugino,
Milan,
1999,
p.
10.
Furthermore,
erugino's
nude male bears a
striking
resemblance
also to a nude
appearing
in
a classical relief
representingApollo
at
the Castelaian Fountain
paint-
ed
on
the recto of the second folio
of
an illuminated
manuscript
of
Didymus
Alexandrinus,
De
spiritu
sancto,
dated
4
December 1488.
See
J. J.
G.
Alexander, ed.,
The Painted
Page.
Italian Renaissance
Book
Illumination
1450-1550,
London and
Munich, 1994,
pp.
68-70,
cat. no. 13.
10
Cf.
E.
Battisti,
"The
Meaning
of Classical Models
in
the
Sculpture
of
Michelangelo",
n
Stil und
Uberlieferung
n
der Kunstdes
Abendlandes,
Akten
des
21.
Internazionalen
Kongresses
fur Kunst-
geschichte
in Bonn
1964,
3
vols.,
Berlin,
1967, II,
pp.
73-79,
in
particu-
lar,
p.
77,
where
the
author states
that the
posture
of
Michelangelo's
David is "derived rom a
monumental
type
of the
traditionalhero of
Florence,
Hercules".
The
most
frequently
cited
source
of
inspiration
for the David
s the
colossal
Horse
Tamerson the
Quirinal.
would like
to
point
out that the
pose
of the
figure
on the extreme left of a sar-
cophagus
of the
Lion
Hunt
in
the
Cortile
del
Belvedere,
Vatican
Museums,
presents
a
strikingly
lose
parallel
o that
of the
David. For
a
reproduction
of the
sarcophagus,
see B.
Andreae,
"Die
Sarkophage
im
Statuenhof
des
Belvedere",
n:
II
Cortiledelle Statue. Der Statuen-
hof des
Belvedere
im
Vatikan,
Akten
des
internationalen
Kongresses
zu Ehren von Richard
Krautheimer,
om,
21-23 Oktober
1992,
Mainz
am Rhein1998, p. 386, fig. 19.
11
Compare
illustration
in N.
Himmelman,
"Apollo
vom Bel-
vedere",
in:
1
Cortiledelle
Statue, 1998,
p.
212,
fig.
4.
12
See
Ragghianti-DalliRegoli,
1975,
cat. nos.
35, 71, 109, 168,
195,
204
(poses
corresponding
to
antique sculpture).
For
drawings
afterthe nude model
posing
as
Verrocchio's
David,
see A.
Butterfield,
The
Sculptures
of
Andrea del
Verrocchio,
New Haven and
London,
1997,
p.
26,
fig.
29
("anonymous
draftsman of
Verrocchio's
work-
shop");
P. L. Rubin
and
A.
Wright
eds.),
Renaissance Florence. The
Art
of
the
1470s,
exh. cat.
London, 1999,
p.
272,
no.
60
(Lorenzo
di
Credi).
Ferino
Pagden,
1982,
no.
7,
fig.
11
(Perugino?).
For
Perugino's
method of
working
out
poses,
see S.
Ferino
Pagden, "Perugino's
Use
of
Drawing:
Convention and
Invention",
n W. Strauss and T.
Felker,
eds.,
Drawings
Defined
with a
preface
and
commentary
by
K.
Oberhuber,
New
York,
1987,
pp.
77-102,
in
particular, p.
90ff.
13
Pouncey-Gere,
1962,
no.
16;
Gere-Turner,
1983,
no.
48;
Joannides, 1983,
no. 89.
14
Cf. G.
Becatti,
"Raphael
and
Antiquity",
n: M.
Salmi
ed.,
The
Complete
Work f
Raphael,
New
York,1969,
p.
514; Mitsch,
1983,
no.
30.
Joannides,
1983,
no.
264r,
who
refers to three other
examples
illustrating
Raphael's
use of the Casa Sassi torso
though
withoutmen-
tioning
the London
drawing
here
proposed
(his
no.
89).
Drawings
after
the
antique
torso
by
Michelangelo
and
Parmigianino
re
discussed
by
D. Ekserdjian,"Parmigianinond Michelangelo",MasterDrawings31
(1989), pp.
390-394.
15
Shearman,1977,
p.
136,
adduces the Vienna
drawing
as
pos-
sible
evidence of
Raphael's
stay
in
Rome
prior
to 1508.
Francesco
Simone
Ferrucci,
Sheet
with
Figure
Studies,
Departement
des Arts
Graphiques
du
Musee du
Louvre,
Paris
R.F.
447
verso.
H.
Janson,
The
Sculpture
of
Donatello,
Princeton
N.J.
1957,
pp.
240-242,
pl.
495.
16
C. Hulsen
and
H.
Egger,
Die Romischen Skizzenbuchervon
Martenvan
Heemskerck,
3
vols.,
Berlin, 1913-1916, I,
pp.
42ff.,
pi.
81
and
p.
27-28,
fol.
51v. G.
Schweikhart,
Der Codex
Wolfegg.
Zeich-
nungen
nach derAntike von Amico
Aspertini,
London,
1986,
p.
98,
fig.
25. In reverse the pose of the left-hand figure represented in the
Raphael drawing
in
London has been
compared
to that
of the nude
figure
at the
right
n
the Oxford
drawing
of Four
Warriors.
t
s
general-
ly
believed that the
latter
igure
derives from
a classical
prototype
as
found on
a Roman
relief
n
the Museo dei Terminin Rome.
Cf. Parker
1956,
no.
523;
Becatti,
1969,
p.
496,
fig.
8 and
p.
504; Joannides,
1983,
no. 88r.
17
It has
long
been
pointed
out that
Fischel's
hypothetical
heory
of
Raphael's 'Large
Florentine
sketchbook',
should be
rejected,
see
Pouncey-Gere
1962,
no.
14
and
Gere-Turner,
983,
no. 37.
18
R.
Weiss,
The Renaissance
Discovery
of
Classical
Antiquity,
Oxford1969, pp. 180ff. and F.Ames-Lewis,TheIntellectualLife of the
Early
Renaissance
Artist,
New Haven
and
London,2000,
pp.
79-80.
19
Ferino
Pagden,
1982,
no.
56; Becatti,
1969,
pp.
503-504;
Joannides, 1983,
no.
53v:
"probably
derived from a lost
composition
by
Antonio
Pollaiuolo". . Ferino
Pagden
in:
Raffaelloa
Firenze.
Dipinti
e
disegni
delle
collezioni
fiorentine,
exh.
cat.
Florence,
1984, Milan,
1984,
pp.
310-312,
no.
17.
20
Gronau
1902,
p.
28;
Ferino
Pagden,
1982,
p.
92; Joannides,
1983,
no. 53v.
According
o
L. D.
Ettlinger
nd H.S.
Ettlinger,Raphael,
Oxford,
1987,
p.
43,
the
Uffizi-drawing,
"reveals a
careful
study
of
Pollaiuolo's amous
engraving
of the
Battle of TenNudes."
21
Bober-Rubinstein,
986,
no.
81;
and 69a for the
drawing
rom
the circle of Bellini.
Degenhart
and A.
Schmitt,
"EinMusterblattdes
57
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MICHAEL
W. KWAKKELSTEIN
Jacopo
Bellini
mit
Zeichnungen
nach der
Antike",
in:
Festschrift
Luitpold
Dussler,
Munich,
1972,
pp.
139-168,
in
particular, .
158,
fig.
21
(as
circle
of
Jacopo Bellini).
C.
Eisler,
The Genius
of
Jacopo
Bellini.
The Complete Paintingsand Drawings,New York, 1989, p. 206, as
"close to the art of GiovanniBellini".
While
working
out the
composi-
tion for the
Massacre of the Innocents
Raphael
turnedto a
sarcopha-
gus
relief of
Mars
and Rhea Silvia
rom which
he
borrowed he nude
soldier seen from the back to
the
right
of
the
center. The mother
pro-
tecting
her infant o the left of
the
central
igure
in the
Massacre corre-
sponds
to the
central
figure
of Achilles
in
the
Amazonomachia,
with
Achilles and
Penthesilia
Cf.
Bober-Rubinstein,
986,
nos. 25 and 139.
22
C.
Gould,
"Raffaello Venezia?"
n:
Studi
su
Raffaello,
1987,
pp.
111-115;
G.
Mulazzani,
"Raphael
and Venice: Giovanni
Bellini,
Durerand Bosch"
in:
J. Beck
(ed.), Raphael
Before
Rome,
Studies in
the
History
of
Art,
vol.
17, Washington,1986, pp.
149-153.
23
Raphael
reused this
pose
for the warrior n the left
in
a draw-
ing
inOxford
Joannides,
1983,
no.
185)
and for the
figure
of Hercules
in
a
drawing
n London
(Joannides,
1983,
no.
188).
Gronau,1902,
pp.
27-28,
recognized
the model
for this motif
in
the
engraving
after
Pollaiuolo's
design
Hercules and the Twelve Giants.
The
position
of
the
arm
of
the relevantwarrior
second
from the
left)
in
the
engraving
is however
quite
different.Ferino
Pagden,
1984,
p.
310,
notes the diffi-
culty
in
identifying
romwhich sources
Raphaelmay
have drawn
nspi-
ration. F.
Coarelli,
La
Colonna
Traiana,
Rome,
1999,
pi.
113
(scene
XCIV).
For Donatello's
relief,
see
J.
Poeschke,
Donatello
and his
World.
culpture
of the Italian
Renaissance,
New York
1993,
pi.
129.
In
classical artthis
type
of
striking
pose
is
usually represented
withthe
raised arm bent
furtherbackwards
(e.g.
on
Trajan's
olumn).
24
L. D.
Ettlinger,
Antonioand
Piero Pollaiuolo.
Complete
edition
with a critical
catalogue,
Oxford
1978,
pls.
83,
94
and 90.
Though
fre-
quently represented
in
antique
art,
the
pose
of the warrior
tanding
next to the
rearing
horse on
the left
in
the
background
of
Pollaiuolo's
Martyrdom
f
St Sebastian is
most
probably
derived
from one of
the
Dioscuriof Monte
Cavallo,
see
Bober-Rubinstein,
986,
no.
125.
25
The
drawing
n Venice s discussed
by
S. Ferino
Pagden,
Gallerie
dell'Accademia
i
Venezia:
Disegni
umbri,Milan,
984,
no.
60 recto.
The
most recent
attempt
o
attribute
he
Windsor
drawing
o
Raphael
s made
by M.Clayton,Raphaeland his Circle.Drawings rom WindsorCastle,
London,1999,
pp.
50-51,
cat. no.
10
(with
lder
bibliography).
26
L.
Fusco,
"Antonio ollaiuolo's
Use of the
Antique",
ournal
of
the
Warburg
nd
Courtauld
nstitutes,
XLII
1979), pp.
257-263,
in
par-
ticular,
p.
261,
note 19. For
the
drawings,
see
A.
Cavallaro,
in:
Da
Pisanello
alla
Nascitadei Musei
Capitolini.
LAntico
a Roma alla
vigilia
del
Rinascimento,
exh. cat. Musei
Capitolini,
Rome
1988,
pp.
187-189,
cat. no. 58.
Pollaiuolo's
presence
in
Rome
in
the 1460s
would also
explain
the
reference
to the Dioscuri
on the left
in the
background
of
his The
Martyrdom
f St Sebastian
in
the National
Gallery
n
London
and datable
to 1475.
27
F.Ames-Lewisand E.Clegg, "AContributiono an Inventory f
Pollaiuolo
Figure-groupDrawings",
Master
Drawings,
25
(1987), pp.
237-241.
It was
R.
Van
Marie,
The
Development
of
the Italian
Schools
of
Painting,
18
vols.,
The
Hague,
1922-1937, XI,
p.
356,
who believed
the Windsorsketch
to be "a
copy
from a lost
drawing by
Pollaiuolo."
Pollaiuolo's
Uffizi
drawing
(97F)
is
discussed
by
C. Sisi
in: A.
Petrioli
Tofani
(ed.),
II
disegno
fiorentinodel
tempo
di Lorenzo
il
Magnifico,
Florence
1992, pp. 50-51,
cat. no.
2.9.
(as
Maso
Finiguerra?).
28
Fora
reproduction
f Bartolomeo
di Giovanni's
painting,
ee
M.
Lisner,
"Form
nd
Sinngehalt
von
Michelangelos
Kentaurenschlacht
mit
Notizienzu
Bertoldodi
Giovanni",
Mitteilungen
es
Kunsthistorischen
Institutes
n
Florenz,24, 1980, p. 329, fig.
25. Cf.
Ferino
Pagden, 1982,
no. 49
as
"Perugino
?)"
and without
reference o Pollaiuolo.
29
Ettlinger,
978,
p.
12,
quoting
Celllini's
reference to Pollaiuolo
and
p.
35
for the lost relief.
30
A similar
drawing,
also
lost,
entered into
the
workshop
of
Francesco Squarcione in the early 1460s. That this cartonum of
nudes,
mentioned
in
a document dated
2
January
1474,
refers
to
a
highly
finished
drawing
instead of to Pollaiuolo's famous Battle
of
Nude Men
engraving,
is
suggested by
A.
Wright,
"Antonio
Pollaiuolo,
"Maestro
di
disegno",
in:
Florentine
Drawing
at
the Time of Lorenzo
the
Magnificent.
Papers
from
a
colloquium
held at
the
Villa
Spelman,
Florence, 1992,
Bologna
1994,
pp.
131-146,
in
particular
.
141.
31
Bober-Rubinstein,
986,
no.
142.
The
drawing
s
attributed
by
J.
Byam
Shaw,
Drawings by
Old Masters at ChristChurch
Oxford,
2
vols.,
Oxford,1976,
no.
40,
pi.
33,
to
the studio
of
FilippinoLippi
and
dated about 1500. For a better
reproduction,
see
Ragghianti-Dalli
Regoli, 1975, p. 239, cat. no. 133, fig. 165. Lippiwas in Romein 1489
and
enjoyed
a
reputation
of
being
an
expert
on
antique
art. In
his dis-
cussion of
the
Windsor
drawing,
A.
Natali,
in:
II
disegno
fiorentino,
1992,
pp.
26-27,
points
to a
battle
scene on
Trajan's
olumn, however,
the
two models
he
singles
out
for
comparison present only generic
similarities. Not mentioned
by
Bober-Rubinstein
is
Piero della
Francesca's
quotation
of four
figures
from the
Amazonomachia sar-
cophagus
for
the warriors
n the
foreground
of
his fresco
representing
the Battle between Heracliusand Chosroes
in
the
main
chapel
of San
Francesco
at
Arezzo,
executed
in
the
1450s.
32
R.
Krautheimer,
Lorenzo
Ghiberti,
Princeton, 1970,
pl.
113.
Ghiberti's
tudy
of
battle
scenes
on
Trajan's
olumn is
suggested by
Cavallaro,
n Da
Pisanello...,
1988,
p.
181.
Ettlinger,
1978,
p.
9. The
prostrate
warrior
n
the
of the Battle of Hercules and the
giants
afterPollaiuolo's
design closely
resembles
the nude
figure
on the
right
of a
sarcophagus
with the Battle of 'Romans
against
Barbarians,'
Bober-Rubinstein, 986,
no. 153.
33
Bober-Rubinstein, 986,
nos.
112
and
113.
Meleager's pose
is
repeated
in a
putto standing
in
the center of a
sarcophagus
with
a
hunting
scene
in
the
Belvedere
Statue Court
n
Rome,
see
Andreae,
1998,
p.
386,
fig.
20.
34
For Pollaiuolo'sArcetri
resco,
see
Ettlinger,
978,
pi.
22. The
sarcophagus
is
reproduced
in
Andreae,
1998,
p.
382,
fig.
9.
Fusco,
1979, p. 258, relates the dancer to Pollaiuolo'sAntaeus figurein the
bronze of Hercules and Antaeus
in
the
Bargello
in
Florence. The
Pollaiuolesque
terracottarelief
is
reproduced
in
Ettlinger,
978,
p.
44,
fig.
16. For
he battle
frieze,
see
Bober-Rubinstein, 986,
no. 154.
This
view is
expressed
by
A.
Wright,
"Dimensional
ension
in
the works of
Antonio
Pollaiuolo",
n:
Stuart
Currie and Peta
Motture
(eds.),
The
Sculpted
Object
1400-1700,
Aldershot,1997,
pp.
65-79.
35
Knab-Mitsch-Oberhuber,
1983,
no.
131;
Joannides, 1983,
94r;
Ferino
Pagden,
1984,
p.
150;
D.
A.
Brown,
"Saint
George
in
Raphael's
Washington
Painting",
in:
Raphael
Before
Rome, 1986, pp.
40-41.
36
Gere-Turner, 1983,
nos.
3 and
4, Joannides, 1983,
nos. 3r and
4 (also referringo the Venicedrawing).
37
Joannides, 1983,
no.
56.
At about this time
Raphael
made
a free
copy
after one of the
archers
in
Signorelli's
Martyrdom
f St
Sebastian
(Joannides,
1983,
no.
11r).
The
rhythmic
contour of
the
archer's
muscular
leg
and the
type
of buttocks
invite
comparison
to
the nude
figure
seen
on the
back
on the recto
of
the sheet
in
Venice.
In
fact an even
closer
parallel
o this
figure
is
provided by
the soldier
on
the left of the
Raleigh picture.
38
The
underdrawing
is
reproduced
in
Cf.
J.
Dunkerton,
S.
Foister,
N.
Penny,
Durer
o Veronese.
Sixteenth-Century
ainting
n The
National
Gallery,
New Haven and
London
1999,
p.
226,
fig.
284.
39
This confirms
the
relationship
with
Pollaiuolo's
picture
noted
by
Gronau,
1902,
p.
25,
with
regard
to the
sketch
usually
connected
58
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7/23/2019 The Model's Pose: Raphael's Early Use of Antique and Italian Art
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THE
MODEL'S POSE: RAPHAEL'S
EARLY
USE OF
ANTIQUE
AND ITALIAN
RT
with
he modello
and also
in
the Uffizi.
Cf.
Joannides, 1983,
56 and 57r.
Ferino
Pagden,
1982,
p.
99,
prefers
to
explain
the influence of
Pollaiuolo
by assuming
Raphael briefly
visited Florence around 1502
or 1503. This
theory
is elaborated
by
P De
Vecchi,
"TheCoronationof
the
Virgin
n
the Vatican
Pinacoteca and
Raphael's Activity
between
1502
and
1504",
in:
Raphael
Before
Rome, 1986,
pp.
73-82.
It
should
be noted
that if
Raphael
worked
with Pinturicchio n Siena he must
have had the
opportunity
o
study
the latter's
engravings by
Pollaiuolo
and
drawings
after his
designs
since Pinturicchio's rescoes contain
several
borrowings
rom Pollaiuolo.
40
Reproduced
in V.
Garibaldi,
Perugino.
Catalogo completo,
Florence
1999,
cat. no. 20.
41 L.
Fusco,
The Nude as a
Protagonist:
Pollaiuolo's
figural
tyle
explicated by
Leonardo's
Study
of
Anatomy,
Movement,
and
Functional
Anatomy,
Diss. New York
University,
978,
p.
185,
believes
thatthe two
standing
warriors
carrying
a shield in the Windsordraw-
ing,
here
singled
out for
comparison
to the
Antique,
are based on
a
sculptural
model of the so-called
Marsyasby
Pollaiuolo.
Though
this
would corroborate he
theory
here
presented,
the
pose
of the
figures
in
the
drawing
show
too
many
differences
to
accept
a direct
linkwith
the bronze. See also
L.
Fusco,
"The Use of
Sculptural
Models
by
Painters
n
Fifteenth-Centurytaly",
Art
Bulletin,
LXIV
1982),
pp.
175-
194. Cf.
Ettlinger,
1978,
pl.
94.
R.
Quednau,
"Raphael
und 'alcune
stampe
di maniera
edesca',
Zeitschrift
ur
Kunstgeschichte,
46, 1983,
pp.
146ff.,
suggests
that a
print by
Martin
Schongauer
served as
a
model
for
Raphael's
St
George
and the
Dragon.
42
The gem and its derivations are discussed in N. Dacos, A.
Giuliano,
U.
Pannuti,
II
tesoro
di Lorenzo
il
Magnifico.
Le
Gemme,
Florence
1973,
pp.
45-46,
cat. no. 8 and
pp.
142ff.See also
N.
Dacos,
in:
P
Scarpellini ed.),
II
Collegio
del Cambio
in
Perugia,
Milan,1998,
p.
146,
who
points
to a scene
in
the
Collegio
del Cambio frescoes
in
Perugia
(1496-1500)
that
shows
Perugino's
knowledge
of the
gem
through
a
plaquette.
For he
corresponding
models on
Trajan's
olumn,
see
Coarelli,1999,
pi.
159.
Compare
a similar
group
in
pls.
129
and 162.
43
The
dating
of
the sheet
in
Venice to 1503
would
support
the
theory
advanced
by
Ferino
Pagden,
1984,
p.
151,
that the studies on
both sides could be connected
to a
project
or a fresco
cycle,
"dedica-
to allastoriareligiosadi Perugiae immaginabile ome decorazione di
una sala con funzioni
politico-religiose...".
44
Parker,
1956,
no.
505;
Joannides
1983,
no.
27,
considers this
study
"from
he model"and a demonstration
of
Raphael's early
devel-
oped
skills for he drew
the
"exceptionally omplex pose
of the stand-
ing guard
[...
] with minimal
pentimenti".
45
Raphael's early knowledge
of
Mantegna's print
s reflected
in
a
drawing
of the
Virgin
nd Child
with
Sts Sebastian
and
Roch,
datable
circa 1500. Cf.
Joannides, 1983,
2r.
The
figure
of St Sebastian
is clear-
ly
based on
the
figure
of Bacchus. It suffices to
point
to one
example
in
antique sculpture
where this
pose
occurs:
the
figure
on the far
right
of a Bacchic sarcophagus inthe Belvedere Statue Court,reproduced
in
Andreae,
1998,
p.
384,
fig.
12.
The
position
of the soldier's
legs
is
identical,
n
reverse,
to that of the
angel
in
Tobias
and the
Angel
from
the
workshop
of Verrocchio
(National Gallery,
London),
and that of
Tobias
in
Pollaiuolo's
picture illustrating
he same
subject
in
Turin
(Galleria Sabauda).
The
pose
recurs
in
the
background
of
Ghirlandaio's
Nativity
n
the Santa
Trinita
n
Florence and his Visitation
with
St
Anne
in
the Galleriadell'Accademia
in
Florence
(c. 1470).
Francesco Botticiniborrowed he
pose
for a
figure
in
his book illumi-
nations to Matteo Palmieri's Citta
di vita
(1473), reproduced
in L.
Venturi,
Francesco
Botticini, Florence, 1994,
fig.
54,
while
Perugino
first
employed
it
for a
figure
in
the
background
of his fresco
of
The
Journey
of Moses into
Egypt
nthe Sistine
Chapel,
Vatican
1481-82).
46
Additional
examples
of
working
method are
given
by
R.
Quednau,
"'Imitatione 'altrui'.
Anmerkungen
zu
Raphaels
Verarbeit-
ung
entlehnter
Motive",
De Arte et Libris.Festschrift Erasmus
1934-
1984, Amsterdam1984, pp. 349-367. The figure holdingthe rope tied
to
Christ
n
the LondonProcession to
Calvary
s a
copy,
in
reverse,
of
the left-hand
soldier
advancing
on the
right
in
the
background
of
Perugino'sAgony
in
the
Garden;
only
the arms are
in
a different
posi-
tion. This
type
of
figural
pose
had been
adopted by
Perugino
for one
of the
figures
in
the
Collegio
del Cambio fresco
illustrating
he Moon
for
which an
antique
gem
served as a
model,
see note
42,
above.
47
Shearman, 1977,
p.
131.
48
Parker,1956,
no. 522
verso,
noting
however that the St
Paul,
"harksback to Donatello's
Prophets
on the
Campanile."
Joannides,
1983,
no.
87r; Ames-Lewis, 1986,
p.
41.
49
Janson, 1957,
pp.
23-32,
especially p.
24.
50
Parker, 1956,
no. 523.
Gere-Turner, 1983,
no. 46.
Cf.
Meyer
zur
Capellen,
1996,
pp.
128-129.
51
Janson, 1957,
pp.
16-21.
Meyer
zur
Capellen,
1996,
pp.
129-
134,
points
to the
changes Raphael
made with
respect
to Donatello's
St
George
which
"in
turn
change
the character of
the
figure by adding
to its
firm
bodily posture
a mood of critical
reflection,
which is most
clearly expressed through
the
slight
inclination of the
apostle's
head." The
pose
of the nude
figure
as St Paul
in
the Oxford
drawing
may
also be
compared
to Andrea del
Castagno's depiction
of
Boccaccio from the fresco
cycle
of famous men and women
formerly
in
the Villa Carducci
in
Legnaia,
near Florence.
In
a similar manner
Castagno's image of Pippo Spano, a Florentine ondottiere,probably
served as a model for
Perugino's drawing
of St Michael at
Windsorof
about
1500,
making
it not inconceivable that he had made
copies
also after the
remaining igures
from the
cycle
that
subsequently
cir-
culated
in
his
workshop.
This latterconnection is also mentioned
by
S. Ferino
Pagden
in
Perugino, Lippi
e
la
bottega
di
San Marco alla
Certosa di
Pavia, 1495-1511,
Florence
1986,
p.
46. Most critics
how-
ever
prefer
o
accept
that
Perugino's drawing
of a warrior s based on
Donatello's St
George.
A. E.
Popham
and J.
Wilde,
The Italian
Drawings
of the
XV
and
XVI
Centuries
n
the Collection of His
Majesty
the
King
at Windsor
Castle, London, 1949,
no.
21.
Meyer
zur
Capellen,1996, p. 128.
52
K.
Oberhuber,
"A
Drawingby Raphael Mistakenly
Attributed o
Bandinelli",
Master
Drawings,
2
(1964),
pp.
398-401. The attributiono
Raphael
is
accepted by
Joannides, 1983,
no. 183 and
V.
Birkeand J.
Kertesz,
Die italienischen
Zeichnungen
der
Albertina, I,
Vienna
/Cologne
/Weimar
1992-,
p.
63,
Inv.
117;
but
questioned by
E.
Mitsch,
Raphael
in
der
Albertina,Vienna, 1983,
cat.
nos. 47-48 and Forlani
Tempesti,
1984,
p.
21,
"Raffaello
?)".
53
Oberhuber,1964,
p.
399.
54
Forlani
Tempesti,
1984,
p.
21. This
author urtheradds a
copy
aftera
lost
Raphael
drawing
n
New
York,
Metropolitan
Museumof
Art,
inv.no. 87.12.69, which, in myview,has little o do with the statue. Cf.
A.
Forlani
Tempesti,
"II
Daviddi
Michelangelo
nella Tradizione
Grafica
Bandinelliana",
ntichita
Viva,
18
(1989), pp.
19-25,
in
particular, .
20,
note
10.
Joannides,
1983,
no.
183v; Birke-Kertesz, 992,
p.
63.
55
For Adriano Fiorentino's
Hercules,
see E.
van
Binnebeke,
Bronze
Sculpture. Sculpture
from
1500-1800
in
the collection of the
Boymans
van
Beuningen
Museum,
Rotterdam,1994,
no.
1
(with
older
literatureand reference to the Hercules in
Mantegna's fresco).
The
resemblance to the Porta
della MandorlaHercules was
suggested
in
the exhibition
catalogue
Bronzen:antieke bronzen
beeldjes
gevonden
in
Nederlanden
Italiaanse
renaissance
bronzen
n
Nederlandse verza-
melingen, Groninger
Museum
1980, p. 82,
no.
20.
An
identical
pose
is
represented
in two late
fifteenth-century
Florentineterracottas of
59
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MICHAELW.
KWAKKELSTEIN
David attributed o the Master
of the David and St John Statuettes
in
the Victoria and Albert
Museum,
see J.
Pope-Hennessy
and R.
Lightbown,
Catalogue
of Italian
Sculpture
in the Victoriaand Albert
Museum,3 vols., London, 1964, I, pp. 191-192, nos. 169-170, noting
that these
sculptures represent
"variants
f a
popular
erracottamodel
derived fromthe bronze David
by
Verrocchio."
56
The attribution f the
drawing
o
Raphael
has been
repeated-
ly questioned,
see
K.
Oberhuber
and
A.
Gnann,
Roma e lo stile clas-
sico di Raffaello
1515-1527, Milan,1999,
no.
71
(with
older
bibliogra-
phy).
For a
reproduction
of the
Grimani-Apollo,
ee
Becatti, 1969,
p.
550,
fig.
117.
J.
Pope-Henessy
and
A.
Radcliffe,
The FrickCollection.
An
illustrated
catalogue.
Volume
IIl:
Sculpture.
Italian,
New
York,
1970,
pp.
48-52.
57
New
York,
Metropolitan
Museum of
Art,
Fletcher Fund
1927,
Inv.
no 27.45 and
Rome,
Vatican
Museums,
Saletta
degli Originali
Greci,
nv.
559.
58
The
correspondence
to the two
youths
in
the Frankfurt raw-
ing
was noted
by
Oberhuber, 964,
p.
399.
Fora reviewof the succes-
sive evolution
stages
in
the
design
process,
see
R.
Jones and
N.
Penny, Raphael, New Haven and London,1983,pp. 57-68 and Ames-
Lewis,
1986,
pp.
72ff.
59
Pouncey-Gere,
1962,
no
30.
Joannides, 1983,
no.
206;
Gere-
Turner, 983,
no. 91.
60
P.
Scarpellini,
Luca
Signorelli,
Milan, 1964,
p.
37,
fig.
42.
Janson, 1957, I,
pi.
309.
Raphael's
use
of Donatello's Paduan relief
had
already
been
pointed
out
by
W.
Voge,
Raffaell und
Donatello,
StraBbourg,
1898,
p.
19,
concerning
three
figures
at the
extreme
right
that
Raphael copied
in
the
right
background
of his School of Athens.
See also V. L.
Goldberg,
"TheSchool of Athens and
Donatello",
The
Art
Quarterly
34
(1971),
pp.
229-236 and
A.
Ronen,
"Raphael
and
Mantegna",Storia dell'Arte,33 (1978), pp. 124-133, in particular,
p.
124.
60
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