Raphael ~ La Fornarina, School of Athens

Picasso's image of Raphael and La Fornarina (Margherita Luti being the star of both La Fornarina and this week's La Velata) that I posted on Saturday has lingered in my memory. And it wasn't the shoes although I do have a shoe fetish. It was seeing Michelangelo peeking out from under the bed. What made Picasso put the Great One's image in his etching? We could conjecture on that all day. I do remember from my reading about these two greats, Raphael and Michelangelo, that Michelangelo disliked and distrusted Raphael. He saw a man, eight years younger than he, take on Rome and win over the favor of the Pope. There he, the great Michelangelo, was on his back in the dark and dank Sistine Chapel doing frescos when he'd rather be creating sculpture. Raphael, Mr. Suave and Debonair on the other hand, was over painting the Stanze, warm and able to mingle. And he obviously was using his creations ... Raphael hadn't always painted in this new and wonderful way that so enchanted the Pope – the audacity of this newcomer.

Of course, Michelangelo didn't like or trust many people. High on the list of people he didn't like was not only Raphael but also Leonardo. While Michelangelo was busy dealing with his paranoid thoughts, Raphael continued with his affable lifestyle and even paid Michelangelo homage by painting him into his School of Athens. That fellow on the steps, the one with the beard and holding his head in his hand, was not in the original drawing but was added after Raphael was allowed to see Michelangelo's Sistine Chapel prior to its completion. Whatever else you can say about Raphael, he was definitely a social creature. So social that I'm convinced if there had been a Facebook and computers when he lived, he would have had his iPhone with him at all times and would have been using the Facebook application. At least two other people agree with me.

This first link is to a selection of Raphael's friends on Facebook. It's the least elaborate of the two I'm linking to on this post. I'm thinking this was Raphael's first attempt at Facebook. The second one up is to the Notes section of a Raphael Facebook page where Raphael is very forthcoming. In this case, the creator has put together four translations of a reputable biography of Raphael -- in Arabic, Italian, French and English (English is at the very bottom). Raphael, I'm certain, is looking down with approval. He's probably politicking to have Facebook added to the applications available in Heaven. We'll all have to wait and see.

Raphael ~ Margherita as La Fornarina obsessed by Raphael, Ingres and Picasso

Not only is Margherita Luti thought to be the sitter for Raphael's La Velata (currently on view here at the Portland Art Museum), history has it that she also is the woman in La Fornarina. No longer as demure, Margherita is mostly naked. She has the same pearl bauble on the silk turban on her head as she does in La Velata. But, the other jewelry is quite telling, a tiny ring on the first knuckle of the most important finger of her left hand and a blue armband that proclaims the artist's name Raphael of Urbino in big gold letters. As Amy said yesterday, "ah love". The up and coming Raphael would have hurt his standing with the monied Rome and Florentine aristocracy if he had married this mere daughter of a baker from Siena. However, that didn't keep him from having her around him almost constantly. She is purportedly not only the object of beauty in La Velata and La Fornarina but also the model he used for many of the women in his other paintings. What have others made of this painting and Raphael's relationship with Margherita?Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres in 1814 decided to let us all know his opinion of Raphael and La Fornarina. That armband with the gravure of Raphael's name meant to Ingres that our man Raphael and Margherita were an item. In his Raphael and La Fornarina, Margherita sits on Raphael's lap. They had been embracing, but now she stares out at us while he looks back at his composition, paintbrush in hand ready to put on the wet red paint at the end of the bristles. Ingres painting helped keep this romance alive another century until Picasso picked up the meme when he did his 347 series. At the age of 87, Picasso did 347 etchings during a six month period. That's an incredible output for anyone let alone someone nearing ninety years of age. And since Picasso had always been known for his obsession with sex it's not surprising then to learn that each and everyone of these etchings is sexual in nature. And 25 of them are of our man Raphael and La Fornarina. Some include noted members of history such as the Pope and Michelangelo. In the one shown below Michelangelo is peeking out from under the bed. For those who want to see more of Picasso's 347 series, click here.
You have to love those shoes. Sex and shoes, the two s's in life.

Raphael - La Donna Velata, Margherita Luti

Yes, Ladies and Gentlemen this painting is here in Portland. You can pay $5.00 over and above regular museum entrance costs, whatever that is for you, and see this amazing piece of priceless Renaissance art (truth in blogging Mr. Row from the Oregonian, take note). The Portland Art Museum is hosting this masterpiece by Raphael until January 3. At that point you can travel to Reno, Nevada and then after that to Wisconsin to see her. She will leave the United States in June of 2010. The price of the airfare to see this masterpiece escalates substantially after that. Summer fares to Florence, Italy from Portland - $800 at the least, at the back of the plane. Now add in meals and lodging and then the euros begin to slide through your fingers like sand on the beach.

Stand in the southern most gallery of the Portland Art Museum and you will see her breathe. Much as she probably did for Raphael. Stories vary but this one from Wisconsin catches the heat of the moment...

Raphael’s personal life was complex. He never married but was reputed to have had many relationships. In 1514 he became engaged to Maria Bibbiena, the niece of an influential Cardinal and Raphael’s friend. The marriage never took place, and she died in 1520. Raphael lived a grand lifestyle in Rome and attained some status at court. It is believed that he died on his 37th birthday in 1520. He left a significant portion of his estate to Margherita Luti—La Donna Velata—and he was buried in the Pantheon.

Look at her eyes and her mouth, I think of her saying to Raphael as she exhales, you will pay for this later.

Update - 10 November 2009:
Barry Johnson wrote a compelling article on La Donna Velata. I think of it as what should have been written in the Oregonian when this exquisite painting first arrived here in Portland. Click here to read Mr. Johnson's Portland Arts Watch article.