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Most people think learning history is boring, something that’s required inschool and then promptly forgotten, like algebra. But, those peoplenever had a history teacher who knew the little stories. And it’s thelittle stories that make history interesting. For me, art history isnot just looking at pretty pictures with pretty colors; it’s also alarge body of knowledge about the culture and customs of real people. Iwas fortunate to learn from a number of gifted art historians, no,really storytellers, as teachers. This is one of those little stories.
Italian Renaissance giants Michelangelo Buonarroti and Raphael Sanziohad an unspoken competition. The irascible Michelangelo, forced by PopeJulius II into painting the ceiling of his own private chapel, theSistine as we know it, complained that he was not a painter, but a
sculptor. This complaint fell on deaf ears as the pope had a war tofight and neither time nor patience for soothing the artistictemperament. If the tale is true, the pope had even less patience forseeing that the artist was paid. Food being a necessity, this was abone of contention between artist and patron. Raphael, on the otherhand, blessed with a much more affable personality, never seemed tolack for funds, friends or food. Both artists were occupied with thepope’s private artistic visions in the Vatican simultaneously.
Raphael’s work in the Vatican Stanze was open to the curious; whileMichelangelo left strict orders that no visitors were to be allowed inthe Sistine Chapel. Mi
chelangelo, busy as a bee himself, consumed with adaunting task, apparently had little interest in Raphael’s work. ButRaphael had an interest in his. He paid a secret visit aided bythe pope to view Michelangelo’s ceiling in progress. So profoundly didit affect him that he returned to his work in the Stanza dellaSegnatura, the pope’s private library, where he proceeded to paytribute to Michelangelo by incorporating a seated figure ofMichelangelo in the foreground of his masterpiece fresco, The School ofAthens.
That’sonly the background for this little story. Perhaps not so well knownthen as his Madonna’s or his magnificent Vatican frescoes, RaphaelSanzio also executed a stunning fresco of The Prophet Isaiah inSant’Agostino in Rome in 1511-12. The donor patron of Isaiah was Head Chancellor of the Papal Court, Johannes Goritz of Luxemburg. Ruffled bywhat he considered to be an exorbitant price for the painting byRaphael, Goritz solicited Michelangelo for his opinion of its worth.Michelangelo looked at the painting of his chief rival with itspowerfully rendered figure of the prophet and simply replied, “For thatknee alone, it is worth the price.” Rarely one to offer praise forothers, in this little story, Michelangelo paid homage to hiscompetitor, Raphael.
Brenda Harness, Art Historian
Owner of Fine Art Touch
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