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Europe 1300 - 1800
Course: Europe 1300 - 1800 > Unit 4
Lesson 5: Raphael- Raphael, an introduction
- Raphael and his drawings
- Raphael, Marriage of the Virgin, 1504
- Raphael, Madonna of the Goldfinch
- Raphael, La belle jardinière
- Raphael, School of Athens
- Raphael, School of Athens
- Raphael, Alba Madonna
- Raphael, Portrait of Pope Julius II
- Raphael, Galatea
- Raphael, Pope Leo X
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Raphael, Marriage of the Virgin, 1504
Raphael's Marriage of the Virgin, 1504, oil on panel, 174 cm × 121 cm / 69 in × 48 in (Pinacoteca di Brera, Milan) Speakers: Dr. Beth Harris & Dr. Steven Zucker. Created by Beth Harris and Steven Zucker.
Want to join the conversation?
- It looks like Rafael dated this painting as MDIIII for 1504. When did the Roman Numeral style switch to IV for 4 as we know it now?(12 votes)
- IV and IIII have been used interchangeably throughout history, although IV seems to be more common now, in our time. That said, most clocks that use Roman numerals still use IIII. Check out the "Alternative forms" section of the Roman numerals Wikipedia entry: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roman_numerals(6 votes)
- Is Joseph's flowering rod based on Aaron, the High Priest's, rod that flowers in Number 17:8?(7 votes)
- possibly. Koholeth (the preacher, who wrote Ecclesiastes) declared that there is nothing new under the sun. A story as good as that of Aaron's rod is great raw material for re-cycling and re-use later.(4 votes)
- Is the Raphael of this painting the Raphael that the "Pre-Raphaelites" were reacting against? If so, is there anything in this specific painting that exemplifies what the Pre-Raphaelites rejected to or reacted against?(4 votes)
- Yes. It is the same Raphael. The two styles seem similar, but what the pre-raphaelites were rebelling against was conventional painting. Atfor example, you can see how two different scenes are essentially rendered in the exact same way, how there is no attempt at depicting a believable crowd, space, clothing, stick, etc. That is an example of how two very different stories became the same after they were subjecting to the distorting influence of conventional painting. 2:15
Also, the fact that the "pre raphaelite" style they were trying to achieve hadn't really existed before Raphael is not important here. The Romantics in particular were great at inventing mythical roots for their ideas and stories.(6 votes)
- AtDr Beth Harris says that the guy in the front is annoyed and is therefore breaking the rod. 1:30
There is also another interpretation, I think - that is, the rod is broken to make the marriage final, irreversible. In the Jewish tradition, in weddings, glasses are broken the same way. And they (Mary & Joseph) were Jews - Christ was not born yet...(6 votes) - When did marriage tradition shift from placing the wedding band on the RIGHT hand, as Joesph does here, to placing it on the LEFT hand, as is the current tradition?(4 votes)
- It varies among cultures and countries. Some place it on the right during wedding ceremonies, some on the left (many Western cultures), some on the left before the ceremony then switching to the right afterwords (Greek Orthodox) and finally some allow wearing on any finger or thumb of either hand. (Wikipedia ref http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ring_finger)
Also according to Wikipedia, traditional Jewish weddings have the groom placing the ring upon the bride's right index finger (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jewish_wedding) . As this painting represented the marriage of Mary and Joseph, we may assume he was representing it as such.(4 votes)
- Raphael is even more indebted to Perugino than this video shows, since this painting is a reworked version of Perigino's "Marriage of the Virgin". The same composition, temple in the background, and a man breaking the rod. https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4c/Pietro_Perugino_016.jpg
Even more interestingly Perugino's picture itself borrows its composition from a fresco by unknown artist in the church of St. Girolamo a Spello. Present scholarship thinks that the artist was Rocco Zoppo and the fresco was drawn around 1492. It is essentially the same composition, the temple in the background, the man breaking the rod is also present. The main difference with Perugino's and Raphael's paintings is absence of perspective.
Here is the link to the info about recent restoration of this fresco:
http://turismoreligioso.umbriaonline.com/scoperta-la-data-di-un-affresco-dello-%E2%80%9Csposalizio-della-vergine%E2%80%9D-restaurato-all%E2%80%99interno-della-chiesa-di-san-girolamo-di-spello.html(3 votes)- Wow, that's some really interesting information! Thanks for sharing.(1 vote)
- Joseph appears to have this strange sadness about him, does any one have any ideas?(1 vote)
- I certainly see what you mean, but let me offer another perspective. Since Greek and Roman art, which is especially what the renaissance builds on, there has been an interest in showing figures rather emotionless. Even the suitor who is breaking his rod has an air of serenity about him. This is in part to flex the returning ideals of antiquity, but we also can claim that the source is the more recent Christian art, which for a millennium has removed figural emotion to avoid portraying reality or being "deceptive" way; it had lacklusterly become simple convention.
But the gloom you've spotted in Joseph seems more enhanced than the figures around him, this I would attribute to the depiction of his age. Joseph was considerably older than Mary (by about 30 years) when they entered into their union and in committing this to paint, Raphael's expression of tranquility - unfamiliar to modern observers - and Joseph's age seem like melancholia.
It would be ignorant for me not to note that, it is believed that Mary had already been betrothed to Joseph when she was impregnated by the Holy Spirit and the annunciation took place. This is evident in some passages in the bible: "18 This is how the birth of Jesus the Messiah came about: His mother Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be pregnant through the Holy Spirit. 19 Because Joseph her husband was faithful to the law, and yet did not want to expose her to public disgrace, he had in mind to divorce her quietly." Matthew 1: 18-19
It would be reasonable to attribute any further speculation of sadness to the fact that Joseph might have felt shame for this, but he is subsequently told by the holy spirit that he should not be afraid, go ahead with the marriage, and so it on. But, we aren't certain if the depicted is a final commission of their marriage, or the commencement of their engagement/betrothal. The Golden Legend reads much like a collection of religious folk tales so the stories don't tend to come out straight.(5 votes)
- At, Dr. Zucker says, "There were a number of people who wanted to marry Mary." Was Joseph or any of her other suitors aware that, not only was she a virgin, but that she would forever remain so? I've always felt rather sad for Joseph that he would never get to consummate the marriage. He was not necessarily too old. 0:50
Even as her legal spouse, Joseph always seemed to be a background figure and was mostly ignored. He was the legal step-father of Jesus, and it seems he should have been a larger part of Jesus's life and more of a biblical presence. What happened to him in later life? Do we know when he died?(2 votes) - Why do we have Rumania numerals?
Who started it?(1 vote)- Romans started the roman ones, but even ancient greeks used letters of their alphabet as numbers, and, if I remember correctly, that was a system that was used in Hebrew as well. Thank God for the Arabs, who brought us the numerals we use today.(1 vote)
- When was this painting made?(1 vote)
- The Marriage of the Virgin was completed in 1504.(1 vote)
Video transcript
DR. STEVEN ZUCKER: We're
in the Brera in Milan, and we're looking at an
important early Raphael. DR. BETH HARRIS:
Raphael's in his early 20s when he paints this,
and the subject is The Marriage of the Virgin. And it's taken from a book
called The Golden Legend. DR. STEVEN ZUCKER: Now, this is
a medieval book that basically tries to fill in all the
missing stories in the Bible. I mean, if you think
about this deeply religious Christian culture,
they look to the Bible to understand the sacred story. But there are so many omissions. There are so many things that
are missing that people created the glue to tie the
stories together. DR. BETH HARRIS:
And that's what's collected in the book we know
today as The Golden Legend. DR. STEVEN ZUCKER:
So this story is about the marriage of the
Virgin Mary to Saint Joseph. And the story says
that there were a number of people that
wanted to marry Mary. DR. BETH HARRIS: She
had many suitors. DR. STEVEN ZUCKER: And each
of these suitors had a rod, and that she would be married
to the one whose rod flowered. DR. BETH HARRIS:
Miraculously flowered. DR. STEVEN ZUCKER:
Needless to say. DR. BETH HARRIS: And so
they went to the temple, and the man whose rod
flowered was Joseph. DR. STEVEN ZUCKER: And we can
see that in this painting. Joseph, who's got that wonderful
yellow drape over his shoulder and around his waist, is
putting a ring tenderly on the Virgin Mary's finger. And he holds in
his left hand a rod that indeed has
leaves at its end. DR. BETH HARRIS: And there
are other suitors behind him you can see have rods
without flowers on the end. And one suitor in
the front is annoyed, has decided to break
the rod on his knee. DR. STEVEN ZUCKER: This
wonderful human narrative quality here, this is not
just the sacred event. But it really is
enacting it before us as a kind of performance. DR. BETH HARRIS: And
so right in the center, we have a priest
marrying Mary and Joseph. And the painting is so
symmetrical in so many ways with that temple behind. And we have this rationally
constructed perspective space. And that priest is in the
middle between Mary and Joseph, but he tips his head a little
bit, so he's just off center. DR. STEVEN ZUCKER:
In fact, there's a little bit of the
chaos of the crowd that people are moving this
way and that, that people are focusing here and there. DR. BETH HARRIS: This
painting is often compared to an early
Renaissance painting by Raphael's teacher, Perugino,
The Giving of the Keys to St. Peter. And you can begin to see
here in this early work by Raphael indications of what
we understand now as the High Renaissance style, as opposed
to a kind of stiffness of the 15th century, of
the early Renaissance. Raphael gives us
figures who seem to move very easily
and elegantly. DR. STEVEN ZUCKER:
So make no mistake. This is a painting that is still
clearly indebted to Perugino. But I think you're
absolutely right. Raphael is beginning to step
out of his master's shadow. He signed the painting, and
if you look very closely at the front of the
temple, you can see it says Raphael Urbinus,
Raphael from Urbino. And there is a beautiful
sense of elegance, especially in the Virgin Mary. She is painted so tenderly. DR. BETH HARRIS: And she stands
in a lovely contrapposto, tilts her head down. There's that typical
Raphael sweetness. DR. STEVEN ZUCKER: So whereas
the early Renaissance so often was trying to reveal the truths
of what we see of the world that we live in, here there's
an attempt to perfect, to create a kind of balanced,
harmonious representation of an ideal, Heavenly place. DR. BETH HARRIS: Ideal
beauty, perfection, harmony are qualities we
associate with the High Renaissance. And we see that in the
background of this painting. If we follow the linear
perspective system and we track the orthogonals
created by those paving stones behind the frieze
of figures in the front, we see a centrally planned
temple in the background, a form that was considered
ideal by the architects and the artists of
the High Renaissance. We can think of Bramante, for
example, and his Tempietto. DR. STEVEN ZUCKER: It's
a spectacular building. And I love the way that
the linear perspective leads our eye back there
past the frieze of figures in the foreground. And then our eyes are
allowed to move around that arcade that's occupied
by those smaller figures. But then my eye goes
back to the doorway and then through the building
to the doorway on its far side and to the sky that's
revealed beyond even that. And there is that diminishment
of the scale of the one doorway and then the farther
doorway giving us a real sense of the
completeness of this space. DR. BETH HARRIS:
There's a real love of creating an illusion
of space and the way that the sizes of
the figure shift as we move further
back into space. We have this real
harmony here that I think is very
typical of the High Renaissance between the
architecture and the figures where one ennoble
another, where one is as ideal and
perfect as the other. It's this High
Renaissance moment, although the very beginnings. DR. STEVEN ZUCKER:
And of course, we're looking with hindsight
as to what will happen. [MUSIC PLAYING]