Portrait of Pope Julius II
| Portrait of Pope Julius II | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Artist | Raphael |
| Year | 1511-1512 |
| Type | Oil on wood |
| Location | National Gallery, London |
Portrait of Pope Julius II is an oil painting attributed to Italian painter Raphael. This painting of Pope Julius II, who was a popular subject for Raphael and his students, was unusual for its time and would carry a long influence on papal portraiture. For many years, a version of the painting which now hangs in the Uffizi Gallery was believed to be the original, but in 1970 opinion shifted. The original is currently believed to be the version hanging in the National Gallery, London.
Composition
The painting is a portrait of Pope Julius II. The subject was a popular one. According to the 1901 catalogue of the National Gallery, "This portrait was repeated several times by Raphael, or his scholars. Passavant enumerates nine repetitions...besides three of the head only."[1] There is a possible cartoon for the London version in the Palazzo Corsini, Florence,[2] and a red chalk drawing at Chatsworth House[3]
The presentation of the subject was unusual for its time. Previous Papal portraits showed them frontally, or kneeling in profile. It was also "exceptional" at this period to show the sitter so evidently in a particular mood - here lost in thought.[4] The intimacy of this image was unprecedented in Papal portraiture, but became the model, "what became virtually a formula", followed by most future painters, including Sebastiano del Piombo and Velasquez.[2] The Oxford Dictionary of Art (2004) indicates that the painting "established a type for papal portraits that endured for about two centuries."[5]
History
The painting was "purloined" from the church by Cardinal Sfondrati, the Pope's nephew. He put his collection on the market a few years later, and it was nearly all sold to Cardinal Scipione Borghese. This painting was in the Borghese Collection in 1693, as a small inventory mark at bottom left shows. It presumably left the collection in the 1790s, and was in the Angerstein Collection by 1823, and was acquired by the National Gallery in 1824.[2]
Until 1970, it was commonly believed that the London version of the painting was a copy by a student of a Raphael original, which was believed to be the version existing in the Uffizi Gallery.[6] In that year, the National Gallery's Cecil Gould and Konrad Oberhuber, along with others, successfully changed common opinion with reference to scientific data and historical records.[6][7] However, the attribution is not universally accepted and was challenged in 1996 by James Beck in Artibus et Historiae.[6]
Notes
References
- Beck, James. "The Portrait of Julius II in London's National Gallery. The Goose That Turned into a Gander". Artibus et Historiae. 17 (33).
{{cite journal}}: Text "page69-95" ignored (help); Text "year 1996" ignored (help) - Chilvers, Ian (2004). The Oxford Dictionary of Art. Oxford University Press US. ISBN 9780198604761. Retrieved 29 June 2010.
- Gould, Cecil (October 2004). "A Raphael Goose Turns into a Swan". Apollo. Retrieved June 29 2010.
{{cite journal}}: Check date values in:|accessdate=(help) - Gould, Cecil (1975). The Sixteenth Century Italian Schools. London: ?National Gallery Catalogues. ISBN 0947645225.
- Jones, Roger (1983). Raphael. Yale. ISBN 0300030614.
{{cite book}}: Unknown parameter|coauthors=ignored (|author=suggested) (help) - National Gallery (Great Britain) (1901). Descriptive and historical catalogue ...: with biographical notices of the ... painters ... Retrieved 29 June 2010.