(music playing) Beth: And here we have
Julius II, painted by Rafael. Julius II, the great patron
of the high Renaissance, and it's thanks to Julius that we have, oh gosh, so many things. The ceiling of the Sistine Chapel, the Basilica of Saint Peter's, Rafael's frescoes in the Stanza. Steven: He was also a warrior. He financed that extraordinary
building campaign through his military campaigns and through some excesses,
in fact, ultimately, in the political realm. You know, it will be Luther
that responds against some of the excesses of
the Church under this pope that will actually spark the Reformation. Beth: Yeah, it's hard for us to
imagine a pope leading armies, and yet that's certainly what Julius did. Steven: But look at the
way that he's represented. You know, he is a monarch. He sits on a throne. He wields power that is both spiritual and that is political. Beth: Absolutely. At this time, the papacy
claimed political right to various lands in Italy, and it actually wasn't until the
20th century that the papacy, the Vatican relinquished those rights. Steven: And, in fact, the way
the national gallery in London dates this painting is because
of the beard that he wears, which he wore in mourning
for the city of Bologna, which he had lost in battle. The other issue is the way
in which economic power and spiritual power are linked. I mean, look at the size of the gems in the rings that he wears, and look at the crispness and the clarity with which those jewels are rendered. Compare them to the softness
of the edging of the fur of his cloak and of the cap that he wears. And I'm especially taken by the
flowing crisp lightness of ... Beth: The crinkles. Steven: Yes, exactly. Of the crinkles of that undergarment. I think what's most striking and what's most, I think,
effective about this portrait is the psychology and the
humanity of that face. Beth: He's shown very thoughtfully. He's not shown as a warrior at all, and he looks down toward the right. His body's turned a little bit off center, and so he's depicted in a very human way, not as an all-powerful
figure, but as a man. Steven: He's not idealized. He's older. He's not beautiful. Beth: No. Steven: And he's clenching his teeth. There's a kind of determination, a kind of inwardness of thought that's being represented here
that's incredibly effective. Beth: Yeah, and that I
think is carried down into his hands, too. That with one hand,
he's got a handkerchief, so there's a softness there, and a kind of thoughtfulness, even, in the holding of the handkerchief which we can imagine
being put up to the head, and then the way that he
clasps the arm of the chair, kind of more forcefully
with his left hand, so in a way, all sides of
Julius' personality emerge as we contemplate this picture by Rafael. Steven: There are some
other sort of iconographic elements that are probably
worth just mentioning. You'll notice that at
the tops of the chairs, there are these large, upside down acorns, and that refers to his actual family name, which means 'oak' in Italian. Beth: Della Rovere. Steven: And then there are, that have been painted out by Rafael, in the green background, you can actually see
these keys of Saint Peter, the papal symbol. Beth: And I'm also thinking about the way that red and green
are complementary colors and this whole painting is
about red and green, also. Steven: It's true, and that really does create a kind of intensity, a kind of visual animation. Beth: I'm struck by the way that, as you said, so in love with it, what the oil paint can do, right? Steven: Yes. here, in Italy, in the high Renaissance, and the fur, the crinkles,
the velvet, the gold, the beard, the way that the
beard has a different texture Steven: All these textures, that's right. Beth: Remarkable. of the satin of his sleeve compared to the crinkles below. It's really quite remarkable. The painting glows. (music plays)