Raphael: From Urbino to Rome ed. by Hugo Chapman, Tom Henry, Carol Plazzotta (review)

Abstract

REVIEWS 288 ers and nobility and the process of nation building. Foreigners and nobles were in similar positions during the Revolution. As the Germinal laws affected both nobles and foreigners, they provide an understanding into how new forms of nationality and citizenship were created. It is interesting to note that nobles and foreigners were alleging that they were transformed by the state into members of a nation or in the alternative that they had always been members of such a nation. Woolf discusses the constituent elements of the Italian nation. Italy’s historiography, as that of other European nations at this time, exalted the state and scientific progress. Unlike other European nations however, Italy lacked a strong central administration. Abigail Green discusses what it meant to be German in two different time periods. She also looks at how different political institutions shaped an emerging nationhood. Zimmer discusses the transformation of the different meanings of nation while analyzing the relationship between the nation as a focus of collective identity and nationalism as an ideological and political movement. He distinguishes between three phases of nationhood, each giving light to a different kind of nationalism and related discourse of national identity. Mandler supports the traditional historiographical argument that the British state was different from European norms while still incorporating the view that power in Britain was based on the idea of cultural hegemony more than institutional government. MIHAELA L. FLORESCU, Cerritos College, Norwalk Raphael: From Urbino to Rome, ed. Hugo Chapman, Tom Henry, and Carol Plazzotta (London: National Gallery Company 2004) 320 pp., 240 ill. This exquisitely illustrated catalogue to London’s National Gallery’s ambitious exhibition, Raphael: From Urbino to Rome, is an essential addition to the library of any Renaissance scholar. Covering roughly a dozen years of Raphael’s artistic production, this magnificent catalogue traces the artist’s brilliant early career and “meteoric rise to fame” from his humble beginnings in Urbino through the death of his first papal patron, Julius II (59). The book includes color illustrations of over ninety of Raphael’s paintings and drawings; each accompanied by detailed catalogue entries. The introductory essay by Tom Henry and Carol Plozzotta is exceptional in its synthesis of the most recent Raphael scholarship. Distinguished scholars Arnold Nesselrath and Nicholas Penny both contribute outstanding critical essays which attest to the continued resonance of Raphael’s career with contemporary scholars. Henry and Plazzotta provide tantalizing evidence for Raphael’s early artistic education in the workshop of his father, Giovanni Santi, who died when Raphael was just eleven years old. While earlier generations of scholars have rejected the possibility that the young Raphael could have learnt anything from his father before the latter’s untimely death, the authors cite textual and visual evidence that suggests it was Santi, and not Pietro Perugino, from whom Raphael received his first artistic training. The young Raphael’s artistic debt to his father is demonstrated in his first documented commission, the St. Nicholas of Tolentino Altarpiece for the church of S. Agostino in Città di Castello, ca. 1500–1501 (cat. 15–17), where Raphael’s use of color and technique clearly reflects Santi’s influence. The authors consider fascinating evidence for Santi’s career and contribution to the artistic sphere; he emerges as a significant—if REVIEWS 289 relatively minor—player in central Italian art of the late Quattrocento. This hypothesis is in marked contrast to traditions that maintain Raphael’s artistic training began under the tutelage of Perugino. The authors maintain that the lack of any documentation for Raphael’s apprenticeship to Perugino confirms that the established master was not so much the young artist’s mentor as he was his artistic contemporary. Raphael’s ability to skillfully maneuver with in the social circles of the rich and powerful is also attributed to the influence of his artist/courtier father. It is clear that Raphael was extremely well connected throughout his career and was able, through his charm and social savvy, to adapt quickly and successfully to the different environments in which he worked (21). Henry and Plazzotta present Raphael as a great draftsman and synthesizer, able to assimilate and develop upon the work of contemporary artists...