PJ's Studio: June 2026

Sunday, June 21, 2026

Raphael – Sublime Poetry 2

As I mentioned in the previous blog, I was so taken with the Raphael exhibit at the Met that I went over to see it a second time.

That gave me time to really study his work.

This lovely painting was his first independent commission and may be the work that earned him the title of Magister (Master) in 1500, at the age of 17.

Apparently, his technique involved first sculpting the figures in wax. That allowed him to capture the composition.

Then he went back and worked the piece in chalk to add the depth and detail. And in this case a slight change in the head position.

I find myself wondering how he managed this. A ladder perhaps so he could look down on his model?

He took advantage of his access to the Vatican Museum, and used Laocoon

as the model for Homer (upper left) in this drawing. That’s Dante on the lower left.

Speaking of the Vatican, these two guys

appear on the lower left of The Transfiguration - albeit fully clothed.

On this visit I also realized why I had underestimated Raphael in the past. While his drawings capture his 3D subjects beautifully,

His paintings flatten out the detail and favor what I call “Crayola” colors – i.e. lots of bright primary colors that clash and do not create mood. They are however easier to distinguish from a distance, so that is no doubt why he simplified and brightened his paintings.

Note that he also changed all of the head positions in the final version as well.

Yes. I am a Raphael fangirl now. If you visit you will be too. 😉

Here are links to photos from the 2018 Grant Wood and Norman Rockwell exhibits…

https://pj-studio.blogspot.com/2018/06/grant-wood-whitney.html

https://pj-studio.blogspot.com/2018/10/grant-wood-2.html

https://pj-studio.blogspot.com/2018/08/norman-rockwell.html

https://pj-studio.blogspot.com/2018/08/norman-rockwell-2.html

Enjoy!

Sunday, June 14, 2026

Raphael – Sublime Poetry

If I had known how much I would enjoy the Met’s Raphael exhibit I would have headed over to see it sooner.

I had already seen most of the paintings that they highlighted in their publicity for the show in the various museums they had come from. (Uffizi, Borghese Gallery, Louvre)

And on our recent visit to Rome we spent a day in the Vatican Museum, primarily so I could see “The School of Athens” at my leisure. After that, I thought I pretty much had it covered.

But this show includes several studies for “The School of Athens.” – including this one. Wow!

And while I may have seen some of the paintings before, I had not seen the drawings which are so fragile that they probably aren’t displayed much even in their home museums. (Louvre, British National Gallery, Vatican)

I was simply blown away by how beautiful his drawings are.

His mastery of perspective applies to faces and hands as much as buildings. I never thought about that before.

The show does a wonderful job matching drawings -

with finished pieces when it can. (Check out that exquisite perspective.)

And when it can’t, it shows a photo from the final piece to provide context. Very cool.

As I looked at my photos to select the ones I wanted to post in this blog, I realized how much I wanted to be able to study these drawings at length, preferably without the crowds. Which gave me an idea.

So, I went over last night at 7:00p.m. when most people were heading off to their Knicks watch parties. Surprisingly, it wasn’t that much less crowded. I guess other people had the same idea. But I did get the extra time I craved.

The exhibit wraps up on June 28^th and will not be traveling.