PJ's Studio: Raphael – Sublime Poetry

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.