The Afterlife of Raphael's Paintings

This book reveals the five-hundred-year story of many of Raphael's most well-known paintings.

Cathleen Hoeniger (Author)

9780521196949, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 21 October 2010

448 pages, 53 b/w illus.
26.1 x 18.9 x 2.5 cm, 1.09 kg

' … a book that one reads with pleasure, and that will remain for a long time extremely interesting for readers of different interests and levels of competence.' The Burlington Magazine

Raphael is one of the rare artists who have never gone out of fashion. Acclaimed during his lifetime, he was imitated by contemporaries and served as a model for painters through the nineteenth century. His works have continuously been subject to care, conservation, and restoration, and here Hoeniger focuses on the legacy of Raphael's art: the historical trajectory - or 'afterlife' - of the paintings themselves. Appreciation of Raphael was expressed and the restoration of his works debated in contemporary treatises, providing a backdrop for probing the fortune of his paintings. What happened to his panel-paintings and frescoes in the centuries after his death in 1520? Some were lost altogether; others damaged in natural disasters; and many were affected by uncontrolled climatic conditions, by travel from one place to another, and by the not always careful hands of restorers. This book reveals the five-hundred-year story of many of Raphael's most well-known paintings.

1. An introduction to the history of restoring Raphael's paintings
2. The reception of Raphael, with a focus on the Vatican Stanze
3. The history of damage and restoration to Raphael's Stanze and the restoration of the Loggia of Psyche in 1693–5
4. The French king's Raphaels, 1750–1792
5. The English reception and restoration of Raphael's cartoons, c.1525–1800
6. Changing ownership at a time of war: the movement of seventeen paintings by Raphael during the Napoleonic era
7. Raphael's great altarpieces in Paris and Dresden, 1801–1828
8. 'Heritage preservation', the establishment of national galleries, and the restoration of Raphael in nineteenth-century Italy
9. Attention to detail in the study and preservation of Raphael's art during the nineteenth century
10. Conclusion: meticulous research, revelatory cleanings, and the rediscovery of a lost Raphael.

Subject Areas: Early modern history: c 1450/1500 to c 1700 [HBLH], European history [HBJD], Individual artists, art monographs [AGB], History of art & design styles: c 1400 to c 1600 [ACN], Conservation, restoration & care of artworks [ABC], The arts: general issues [AB]