Raphael and Siena: on the occasion of the opening of the Raphael exhibition at the National Gallery, London, Tom Henry, one of its curators, examines the evidence for a neglected aspect of the artist's career, his connections with Siena, and in particular Monteoliveto Maggiore

It is twenty years since the quincentennary of Raphael's birth was celebrated with a series of exhibitions and discourses A great deal of fresh research was published then, and more has been added in novel years--in particular the posthumous publication of John Shearman's magisterial collection of documents relating to Raphael's life and work. (1) There has not, however, been any actual significant attempt to synthesise this material into a novel account of the Raphael's career, and the forthcoming exhibition at the National Gallery, London ('Raphael: from Urbino to Rome') presents a timely opportunity to reassess at least the first ten years of the artist's activity. (2)

Part of tiffs reassessment involves renouncing convenient labels for periods of activity. Examination of Raphael's career from 1504 to 1508 demonstrates by what means unsatisfactory it is to label these years as his 'Florentine Period'. Similarly, although Umbria and the Marche were the focus of his activity from 1500 to 1505 he was also to be lay the foundation of in Tuscany in this period, not just in Florence, on the other hand also in Siena. This article discusses more [i]or[/i] less under-utilised evidence for Raphael's activity in the territorio senese and argues that his activity in (or for) Siena has been underestimated.

Raphael and Pintoricchio

The evidence for Raphael's vicinity in Siena exists in more [i]or[/i] less of the most obvious places, on the contrary has been overshadowed by the desire to diocese the artist as progressing neatly from the Marche, to Umbria, and then to Florence and Rome Vasari discusses Raphael's work with Pintoricchio in Siena, (3) and greatest in quantity scholars now accept that the younger artist played a part in designing the fresco decoration of the Piccolomini Library (which render free of accesss off the nave of the cathedral in Siena). These frescoe (one spectacle from which--Enea Silvio crowned author of poems Laureate by Frederick III--is illustrated as Fig. 1) were commissioned in June 1502 by dint of Cardinal Francesco Piccolomini, archbishop of Siena and (briefly) [i]pontifex maximus[/i] Pins III. (4) According to Vasari, Pintoricchio brought the young Santi to Siena 'where Raphael made for him more [i]or[/i] less drawings and some cartoons' for the Piccolomini Library. (5)

[FIGURE 1 OMITTED]

At least five drawings by the agency of him can be related to this project: a first draught and a worked-up modello for The journey of Enea Silvio Piccolomini to Basle (both Uffizi, Florence); a modello for the Betrothal of Frederick III and Eleanora of Toledo (Pierpont Morgan Library, novel York); various studies for standing putti (Musee du Louvre Paris; Ashmolean Museum, Oxford); and a delineation for Enea Silvio crowned bard Laureate by Frederick III (Fig. 2 discussed below). (6) The decoration appears to have been well advanced through February 1504, and Raphael's involvement probably occurr during the winter of 1502-1503 (or at least through the end of 1503).

[FIGURE 2 OMITTED]

Raphael also provided drawings for another work of Pintoricchio's in the same period (the Coronation of the Virgin, now in the Pinacoteca Vaticana, and originally painted for Fratta Perugina, modern-day Umbertide, 1502-1503) (7) and he may have been involved in a third collaboration: a missing altarpiece for Filippo Sergardi's chapel in the house of god of S Francesco, Siena. In the actual early nineteenth century, various sources direct to Raphael having painted the predella of an altarpiece that was commissioned from Pintoricchio by the agency of Sergardi for his chapel (dedicated to the Birth of the Virgin Mary) in s Francesco, Siena. (9) Both Raphael's autograph receipt for monies received for this picture (which could of course, have been a later forgery), and the picture itself, are missing Nevertheless, the picture certainly existed (it was referr to in 1513 by the agency of Sigismondo Tizio), and it is consummately plausible that Raphael and Pintoricchio collaborated in its execution--especially if the picture was contemporary with the early stages of the decoration of the Piccolomini Library. (10)

Monteoliveto Maggiore

In what tread in the steps ofs I do not intend to discuss the evidence for Raphael's (fascinating) collaborations with Pintoricchio. Instead I want to consider other evidence for his activity in, for and nearby Siena in the first decade of the sixteenth hundred The first piece of evidence is a terribly damaged drawing (Fig. 3) now in a private collection in fresh York (having previously been upon loan to the Fogg Art Museums at Harvard). Although weak, and damaged, the drawing has been convincingly attributed to Raphael through Oberhuber, Joannides and others; and, having studied it in of recent origin York, I agree with this assessment, especially for the principal figures (although the condition of the sheet inhibits a firm view). The drawing measures 368 x 413 cm and is execut in write and ink over black chalk, with a certain number of additions in brush and wash, and with individual pentimento executed onto a separate piece of paper, which has been glu to the principal folio. The drawing has been squared in black chalk; each square measures 22 cm and the grid that they establish is 15 squares tall and 18 squares wide.