Raphael. Upraised Right Hand, with Palm Facing Outward Study for Saint Peter. 1518–1520. Italy. Black chalk, heightened with white chalk and lead white, partially oxidized, over stylus underdrawing, on cream laid paper The traditional attribution for Raphael of this long overlooked and hitherto unpublished drawing was recently upheld by Konrad Oberhuber, Paul Joannides, and Nicholas Turner (in conversation, 1995/96) all of whom agreed that it should be dated 1518/20, towards the very end of Raphael’s career. In the image represented, as well as its medium, technique and style, the drawing rela
Raphael. Upraised Right Hand, with Palm Facing Outward Study for Saint Peter. 1518–1520. Italy. Black chalk, heightened with white chalk and lead white, partially oxidized, over stylus underdrawing, on cream laid paper The traditional attribution for Raphael of this long overlooked and hitherto unpublished drawing was recently upheld by Konrad Oberhuber, Paul Joannides, and Nicholas Turner (in conversation, 1995/96) all of whom agreed that it should be dated 1518/20, towards the very end of Raphael’s career. In the image represented, as well as its medium, technique and style, the drawing relates to Raphael’s most important commissions from this period; the Transfiguration altarpiece, now in the Pinacoteca Vaticana (Dussler 1971, pp. 52-55, pl. 111), which he completed shortly before his death on April 6, 1520; and the decoration of the walls of the Sala di Costantino, the largest of the papal suite of rooms in the Vatican (Dussler, pp. 86-88, pls. 143-44; Quednau 1979). With the possible exception of two allegorical figures in oil, this project, which was underway by late 1519, was largely executed by Raphael’s assistants under the direction of Giulio Romano, and completed in 1524. Although the Sala’s general decorative scheme was devised by Raphel, there are still questions concerning the extent of his responsibility for the design of individual components (Oberhuber/Fischel 1972, pp. 184-204).The gesture itself, of the upraised right arm and hand with palm facing outward, is reminiscent of that of Christ in the Transfiguration, as conveyed in two modelli, possibly by Giovanni Francesco Penni, in the Louvre (3954; Cordellier/Py 1992, pp. 533-34, no. 905, repr.) and the Albertina (193; Birke/Kertész 1992-, vol. 1, pp. 110-11, repr.), which preserve two abandoned designs for the Transfiguration. In both modelli, Christ’s arm is dramatically bent and thereby foreshortened as in the Chicago drawing, whereas in the actual painting, the same arm is more ful
Size: 2053px × 3000px
Photo credit: © WBC ART / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords:
