National Gallery, London
Tranquil saints and sultry beauties populate an unmissable exhibition of the elusive Renaissance master’s work
Raphael, at the National Gallery, is a revelation. It could hardly be otherwise, in a sense, since this is the first exhibition outside Italy ever to encompass every aspect of his stupendous career. It runs through paint, chalk and print, wool, bronze and ink, and from the earliest drawing of himself at 15, with doe eyes and a half-formed nose, to the last startling self-portrait where Raphael paints himself with a fellow artist who points to the mirror as if looking to the future, at themselves and also us: one of the greatest double acts in the history of art.
That picture has come from the Louvre, and it is a testimony to the extraordinary pulling power of the gallery and its exemplary curators that they have been able to bring together 89 works from all over the world. Here are his apprentice works and the final masterpieces made just before his death at 37; here are his visions of tranquil saints and tense philosophers, sultry beauties and soaring apostles, his friends, his colleagues, his amused and flirtatious lover. In room after room, singing with Raphael’s radiant red-blue-green palette, you are able to walk through his art and life as never before.
