Portrait of Pope Julius II

Portrait of Pope Julius II

Artist	Raphael
Year	1511–1512
Medium	Oil on wood
Dimensions	108 cm × 80.7 cm (43 in × 31.8 in)
Location	National Gallery, London, Uffizi and other versions

Portrait of Pope Julius II is an oil painting of 1511–1512 by the Italian High Renaissance painter Raphael. The portrait of Pope Julius II was unusual for its time and would carry a long influence on papal portraiture. From early in its life, it was specially hung at the pillars of the church of Santa Maria del Popolo, on the main route from the north into Rome, on feast and high holy days. Giorgio Vasari, writing long after Julius' death, said that "it was so lifelike and true it frightened everyone who saw it, as if it were the living man himself".^[1]

The painting exists in many versions and copies, and for many years, a version of the painting which now hangs in the Uffizi Gallery in Florence was believed to be the original or prime version, but in 1970 opinion shifted. The original is currently believed to be the version located in the National Gallery, London.

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(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)

Composition

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.^[2] 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 Diego Velázquez.^[3] The painting "established a type for papal portraits that endured for about two centuries."^[4] According to Erika Langmuir, "it was the conflation of ceremonial significance and intimacy which was so startling, combined with Raphael's ability to define the inner structure of things along with their outer texture".^[5]

The painting can be dated to between June 1511 and March 1512, when Julius let his beard grow as a sign of mourning for the loss in war of the city of Bologna.^[6] Raphael had also included fresco portraits of the bearded Julius, representing earlier popes, in the Raphael Rooms of the Vatican Palace, in The Mass at Bolsena, with portraits of his daughter Felice della Rovere and Raphael himself in the same group, and in the painting representing Jurisprudence round a window in the Stanza della Segnatura, as well as in the Sistine Madonna.^[7]

The original hanging in the background was a blue and gold textile, either woven silk or embroidery, with gold emblems in tear shaped light blue compartments against a dark blue background. The emblems were the papal crossed keys, the papal tiara, and perhaps the heraldic oak tree of Julius's family, the Della Rovere ("Of the oak"). This was overpainted by Raphael with the green cloth now seen, which itself was painted over before 1824 to give a plain dark background.^[8] The finials of the chair are also formed as acorns to represent the Della Rovere emblem. The six finger rings with large jewels reflect another of Julius's obsessions, which caused Michelangelo to walk away from his service to him.^[9]

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."^[10] There is a possible cartoon for the London version in Palazzo Corsini, Florence,^[3] and a red chalk drawing at Chatsworth House.^[11]

Provenance

The provenances of the various versions of this painting are constructed based on documents, analysis of the paintings and preliminary sketches. For over two centuries the prime version of the painting remained together with the Madonna of Loreto, first at Santa Maria del Popolo until 1591, then in private collections; then for a time in the early 19th century its location was unknown.

Until 1970 it was commonly believed that the London version of the painting was a studio copy of the Raphael original, which was believed to be the version in the Uffizi Gallery, Florence.^[12] In 1969 Konrad Oberhuber of the National Gallery of Art in Washington asked the National Gallery to take x-ray photographs of their version. These revealed that the background of the painting behind the chair had been entirely repainted, concealing an inventory number from the Borghese collection and the green textile hanging now visible after the overpaint was removed in 1970. Small paint samples removed during this cleaning showed that there had been an even earlier hanging with a coloured pattern.^[13] The National Gallery's Cecil Gould published the results of the research in 1970, asserting that Raphael's original had been rediscovered, an attribution that is now generally accepted.^[12]^[14] However, the attribution was challenged in 1996 by James Beck in an article in Artibus et Historiae.^[12]

Santa Maria del Popolo

Julius II commissioned from Raphael^[15] this painting and Madonna of Loreto which resided at Santa Maria del Popolo,^[16]^[17]^[18] at the entrance gate to Rome.^[19] Upon the portrait's completion, it was exhibited in the church for eight days, where many people came to see it. According to Marino Sanuto the Younger, "it was like a jubilee, so many people went there."^[20]

An array of Renaissance artists were brought in to decorate Santa Maria del Popolo, beginning with Raphael.^[21] Both paintings by Raphael, Julius II and the Madonna were hung on pillars during feast days^[22]^[23] or high holy days.^[17]

The two paintings, nearly the same size, seem as if they were meant to complement each other. Aside from their dimensions, they also both had a strong vertical orientation. The eyes of the paintings were downcast and gave a contemplative feeling. The positioning and lighting within the paintings seems to indicate that they were meant to each flank an altar in the domed chapel. Although the paintings were paired for a time, through change of ownership the Madonna of Loreto is now located in the Musée Condé, Chantilly.^[22]

As a means of indicating Julius' appreciation of the Madonna, which resulted in the pairing of paintings, Julius commissioned the Sistine Madonna in the last year of his life where his adoration is shown by the Pope kneeling at the feet of the Virgin.^[24]

There are many rival suppositions about the circumstances surrounding the history of the painting after it was removed from Santa Maria del Popolo, partly because there were many copies of the painting and partly due to delays in publication of vital documents.^[25]

Cardinal Sfondrati

In 1591, the Raphael paintings Julius II and what was later called Madonna of Loreto were removed from the church by Paolo Camillo Sfondrati, later Cardinal Sfondrati, nephew of Pope Gregory XIV.^[25]^[26]^[27] In 1608, he sold the paintings to Cardinal Scipione Borghese.^[25]

Borghese collection

The paintings were still recorded as part of the Borghese collection in 1693,^[27] as a small inventory number 118 at the bottom left of the London Julius shows. The discovery of this number, hidden by over-paint, in x-ray photographs in 1969 was one of the key pieces of evidence establishing the primacy of the London version.^[28] It matches a catalogue of paintings in the Palazzo Borghese in Rome in 1693. The painting presumably left the collection between 1794 and 1797, and its whereabouts are unknown until it reappeared in the Angerstein Collection in London by 1823, and so was acquired by the National Gallery in 1824, initially catalogued as a Raphael, but this attribution was soon abandoned for over a century.^[3]

Gallery

Pope Julius in The Mass at Bolsena
The Sistine Madonna, commissioned by Julius in the last year of his life

Notes

^ Quoted Langmuir, 146
^ Jones & Penny: 158
^ ^a ^b ^c Gould (1975): 210
^ Chilvers: 576 quoted; Gould (1975), 209; Langmuir, 147
^ Langmuir, 147
^ Gould, 209, 210 note 2
^ Jones and Penny, 76, 157
^ Dunkerton and Roy, 759, which reports further testing modifying Gould (1975), 208–10.
^ Jones and Penny, 158
^ National Gallery: 522.
^ Jones & Penny: 157-8
^ ^a ^b ^c Beck: 69.
^ Dunkerton and Roy, 757–758
^ Gould (2004)
^ Müntz, E (2005) [1888]. Sir Walter Armstrong (ed.). Raphael: His Life, Works and Times. London: Chapman & Hall. p. 213. ISBN 0766193969.^{[permanent dead link]}
^ Szakolczai, A (2007). Sociology, Religion, and Grace: A Quest for the Renaissance. United States and Canada: Routledge. p. 294. ISBN 9780203968185. Raphael church Loreto Madonna.
^ ^a ^b Berlin and its treasures. New York: D. Appleton and Company. 1867. p. 158Any information later refuted was ignored.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: postscript (link)
^ Partridge, L; Starn, R (1980). Renaissance Likeness: Art and Culture in Raphael's Julius II. Berkeley, Los Angeles and London: University of California Press. p. 77. ISBN 0-520-03901-7. Raphael Madonna del Velo OR Madonna of Loreto OR Madonna of the Veil.
^ Raphael, Hermann Knackfuss (1966). Raphaël. pp. 129, 342.
^ Salmi, Mario; Becherucci, Luisa; Marabottini, Alessandro; Tempesti, Anna Forlani; Marchini, Giuseppe; Becatti, Giovanni; Castagnoli, Ferdinando; Golzio, Vincenzo (1969). The Complete Work of Raphael. New York: Reynal and Co., William Morrow and Company. p. 588.
^ "Santa Maria del Popolo, Rome – History". Rome: Santa Maria del Popolo. 2009. Retrieved 2011-03-11.
^ ^a ^b Partridge, L; Starn, R (1980). Renaissance Likeness: Art and Culture in Raphael's Julius II. Berkeley, Los Angeles and London: University of California Press. pp. 1, 96, 102–103. ISBN 0-520-03901-7. Raphael Madonna del Velo OR Madonna of Loreto OR Madonna of the Veil.
^ Grimm, H; Adams, S (1888). The Life of Raphael. London: Alexander Gardner, Publisher to the Queen. pp. 170–171.
^ Shaw, C. (1996) [1993]. Julius II: The Warrior Pope. Oxford and Cambridge: Blackwell Publishers. p. 201. ISBN 9780631202820. Raphael Madonna Popolo OR Loretto OR Loreto OR Lorette -Caravaggio.
^ ^a ^b ^c Gould, C (May 1980). "Afterthoughts on Raphael's so-Called Loreto Madonna". The Burlington Magazine. 926. 122. The Burlington Magazine Publications: 336.
^ Crowe, J; Cavalcaselle, G (1885). Raphael: His Life and Works. Vol. 2. London: John Murray. pp. 108–109Much of this reference is involved in conjecture about the nature and movement of the painting. Anything later refuted has been ignored.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: postscript (link)
^ ^a ^b Shearman, J (2003). Raphael in early modern sources (1483–1602). Vol. 2. Yale University Press. p. 1400. ISBN 9780300099188.
^ Dunkerton and Roy, 757

References

Beck, James (1996). "The Portrait of Julius II in London's National Gallery. The Goose That Turned into a Gander". Artibus et Historiae. 17 (33): 69–95. doi:10.2307/1483552. JSTOR 1483552.
Chilvers, Ian (2004). The Oxford Dictionary of Art. Oxford University Press US. ISBN 978-0-19-860476-1. Retrieved 29 June 2010.
Dunkerton, Jill; Roy, Ashok (Nov 2004). "The Altered Background of Raphael's 'Portrait of Pope Julius II' in the National Gallery" (PDF). The Burlington Magazine. 146 (1220): 757–759. JSTOR 20073750.
Gould, Cecil (October 2004). "A Raphael Goose Turns into a Swan". Apollo. Retrieved June 29, 2010.
Gould, Cecil (1975). The Sixteenth Century Italian Schools. London: ?National Gallery Catalogues. ISBN 0-947645-22-5.
Jones, Roger; Nicholas Penny (1983). Raphael. Yale. ISBN 0-300-03061-4.
Langmuir, Erika (1997). The National Gallery companion guide. London: National Gallery. ISBN 185709218X.
National Gallery (Great Britain) (1901). Descriptive and Historical Catalogue of the Pictures in the National Gallery. London. Retrieved 3 May 2013.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
Niyazi, Hasan (2011-12-14). "Portrait of Julius II – a Raphael case study" (PDF). Retrieved 2014-11-15.

External links

Media related to Julius II portrait by Raffaello Sanzio at Wikimedia Commons

v t e Raphael
List of paintings
Early works	Baronci Altarpiece (1500–1501) Saint Sebastian (1501–1502) Resurrection of Christ (1499–1502) Mond Crucifixion (1502–1503) Madonna and Child with the Book (c. 1503) Solly Madonna (c. 1500–1504) Oddi Altar (1502–1504) Conestabile Madonna (c. 1502–1504) Portrait of a Man (c. 1503–1504) Vision of a Knight (1503–1504) The Marriage of the Virgin (1504) Diotallevi Madonna (c. 1504) Portrait of Perugino ¹ (c. 1504) Colonna Altarpiece (c. 1503–1505) Saint George (c. 1503–1505) Three Graces (c. 1503–1505) Saint Michael (c. 1504–1505)
Florentine period	Christ Blessing (c. 1502–1504) Portrait of Pietro Bembo (c. 1504) Portrait of Elisabetta Gonzaga ² (c. 1504–1505) Portrait of Emilia Pia da Montefeltro ² (c. 1504–1505) Small Cowper Madonna (c. 1504–1505) Terranuova Madonna (c. 1504–1505) Madonna del Granduca (c. 1505) Saint George and the Dragon (c. 1505) Young Man with an Apple (c. 1505) Self-portrait (1504–1506) La donna gravida (1505–1506) Madonna del Cardellino (c. 1505–1506) Young Woman with Unicorn (c. 1505–1506) Madonna del Prato (1506) Madonna with Beardless Saint Joseph (c. 1506) Portrait of Agnolo Doni (c. 1506) Portrait of Guidobaldo da Montefeltro (c. 1506) Portrait of Maddalena Doni (c. 1506) Ansidei Madonna (1505–1507) Madonna of the Pinks (c. 1506–1507) Bridgewater Madonna (c. 1507–1508) The Deposition (1507) Madonna of the Baldacchino (c. 1506–1508) La belle jardinière (1507–1508) (completed by Ridolfo Ghirlandaio) Canigiani Holy Family (c. 1507–1508) Colonna Madonna (c. 1507–1508) Portrait of a Young Woman (La Muta) (c. 1507–1508) Esterhazy Madonna (c. 1508) Niccolini-Cowper Madonna (1508) Tempi Madonna (1508) Saint Catherine of Alexandria (c. 1507–1509)
Roman period	Portrait of Tommaso Inghirami (c. 1509) Garvagh Madonna (c. 1509–1510) Portrait of Cardinal Alessandro Farnese (c. 1509–1511) Portrait of a Cardinal (c. 1510–1511) Alba Madonna (c. 1511) Madonna of Loreto (c. 1511) The Prophet Isaiah (1511–1512) Madonna of Foligno (c. 1511–1512) Portrait of Pope Julius II (1511, 1512) Galatea (c. 1512) Madonna with the Fish (c. 1512–1514) Madonna della Seggiola (c. 1513–1514) Madonna of the Candelabra (c. 1513–1514) Sistine Madonna (c. 1513–1514) Madonna dell'Impannata (c. 1513–1514) Madonna della Tenda (c. 1513–1514) Portrait of a Young Man (c. 1513–1514) Sibyls (1514) Portrait of Bindo Altoviti (c. 1512–1515) Portrait of Baldassare Castiglione (c. 1514–1515) Christ Falling on the Way to Calvary (c. 1514–1516) Creation of the World (1516) Portrait of Andrea Navagero and Agostino Beazzano (1516) Portrait of Cardinal Bibbiena (c. 1516) La velata (c. 1516) Visitation (c. 1517) The Ecstasy of Saint Cecilia (c. 1514–1517) Madonna with the Blue Diadem (c. 1510–1518) Holy Family of Francis I (1518) Saint Michael Vanquishing Satan (1518) Ezekiel's Vision (c. 1518) Portrait of Doña Isabel de Requesens y Enríquez de Cardona-Anglesola (with Giulio Romano) (c. 1518) Saint Margaret and the Dragon (c. 1518) La Fornarina (1518–1519) Small Holy Family (c. 1518–1519) (with Giulio Romano) Portrait of a Young Woman (c. 1518–1519) (with Giulio Romano) Transfiguration (1516–1520) Madonna de Bogota (c. 1517–1520) Portrait of Pope Leo X with Two Cardinals (c. 1518–1520) Madonna of the Rose (1518–1520) Self-Portrait with a Friend (1518–1520)
Raphael Rooms	The Parnassus (1509–1511) The School of Athens (1509–1511) Disputation of the Holy Sacrament (1510–1511) Cardinal and Theological Virtues (1511) The Expulsion of Heliodorus from the Temple (1511–1512) The Mass at Bolsena (1512–1514) The Meeting of Leo the Great and Attila (1513–1514) Deliverance of Saint Peter (1514) The Fire in the Borgo (c. 1514–1517) (executed by Giulio Romano)
Tapestry cartoons	Miraculous Draught of Fishes (1514–1516) Christ's Charge to Peter (1514–1516) Healing of the Lame Man (1514–1516) Death of Ananias (1514–1516) Conversion of the Proconsul (1514–1516) Sacrifice at Lystra (1514–1516) Saint Paul Preaching in Athens (1514–1516)
Drawings	Lucretia (1500s) Adoration of the Shepherds (c. 1508)
Sculptures	Jonah (1520) (executed by Lorenzetto) Elijah (c. 1520–1524) (executed by Lorenzetto and Raffaello da Montelupo)
Buildings	Chigi Chapel (1507–1520) (continued by other architects) Palazzo Jacopo da Brescia (1515–1519) Palazzo Branconio dell'Aquila (c. 1520) Sant'Eligio degli Orefici (1509–1575) (completed by Baldassare Peruzzi and Bastiano da Sangallo) Villa Madama (1518–1525) (completed by Antonio da Sangallo the Younger and other disciples) Villa Farnesina (decoration)
Related	Giovanni Santi (father) Imperia Cognati (mistress and model) Margarita Luti (mistress and model) Giulio Romano (disciple and collaborator) Raphael and La Fornarina (1813 painting) Raphael (1894 opera) La Fornarina (1944 film) Raffaello Multi-Purpose Logistics Module SS Raffaello Raphael (crater) Vatican loggias
¹ Also attributed to Lorenzo di Credi ² Attributed

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