A Raphael Expertise

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A Raphael Expertise

(Picture: staedelmuseum.de; small picture above on the left: detail of the London National Gallery’s version)

The preface to the Raphael and the Portrait of Julius II exhibition in the Frankfurt a. M. Städel museum informs us that Raphael scholar Jürg Meyer zur Capellen had, on occasion of the acquiring of a version of that portrait by the museum in 2010, supported the museum with an expertise (see Sander (ed.) 2013, p. 6; preface by Max Hollein).
While the expertise itself, of course, is not being part of the exhibition catalogue, the contribution by Jürg Meyer zur Capellen to the catalogue probably conveys the essence of that expertise. Which is why we choose here to quote from the crucial passage (reminding, in style, very much of an actual expertise; and we note also that Raphael scholar Jürg Meyer zur Capellen, unlike curator Jochen Sander who did go farther in tending to attribute large parts of the painting to Raphael (compare pp. 90ff.), did not built his case on pentimenti at all, but rather on an evaluation of the portrait’s quality combined with more specific stylistic criticism, also focussing on the rendering of hands and other details in particular, in paint, in the underdrawing, in an existing cartoon etc., yet he did not rely at all on the rendering of ears; and he did not consider those parts of the underdrawing showing pentimenti as having been executed by Raphael, but by an anonymous assistant):

»The Frankfurt Portrait of Julius II is distinguished by its high quality. Like the London picture, it gives the background as green. As is to be expected, the surface here is uniform, […]. The portrait has been reproduced with extreme care and a keen eye for the most subtle differentiation. This is true both of the larger whole – as witnessed by the fabrics, for example, […] and of the details, such as the richly ornamented bosses of the chair and the pope’s magnificent rings. Overall, however, the painterly execution in essence cannot be attributed to Raphael himself. Thus the paint is applied in places with a positive hardness, in particular in the alb. The flesh tints of the hands also have a somewhat searching character, and evince an not entirely convincing modelling that we do not find in this form in works by Raphael. The painterly quality of the work culminates in the pope’s countenance. There it is distinguished by a consistently fluid and brilliant style which can presumably be associated with Raphael himself. […]«
(Source: Jürg Meyer zur Capellen, Reflections on the Portrait of Pope Julius II by Raphael, in: Jochen Sander (ed.), Raffael und das Porträt Julius’ II. / Raphael and the Portrait of Julius II, [exh. cat. Frankfurt a. M.] Petersberg 2013, pp. 51-61; quote from p. 56-58)

Compare also as to the controversy around that picture the introduction to our Giovanni Morelli Study, being part of our The Giovanni Morelli Monograph.

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