The Prophet Isaiah (Raphael)
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''The Prophet Isaiah'' is a
fresco Fresco (plural ''frescos'' or ''frescoes'') is a technique of mural painting executed upon freshly laid ("wet") lime plaster. Water is used as the vehicle for the dry-powder pigment to merge with the plaster, and with the setting of the plaste ...
located in
Basilica di Sant'Agostino it, Basilica di Sant'Agostino in Campo Marzio , image = Sant Agostino Fassade.jpg , caption = Façade from the Piazza di Sant’Agostino , coordinates = , image_size=270 , mapframe-frame-width=270 , m ...
, an early Renaissance
church Church may refer to: Religion * Church (building), a building for Christian religious activities * Church (congregation), a local congregation of a Christian denomination * Church service, a formalized period of Christian communal worship * Chris ...
in
Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus (legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...
. It is an Italian Renaissance painting, influenced by
Michelangelo Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni (; 6 March 1475 – 18 February 1564), known as Michelangelo (), was an Italian sculptor, painter, architect, and poet of the High Renaissance. Born in the Republic of Florence, his work was insp ...
's work on the Sistine Chapel ceiling.
Isaiah Isaiah ( or ; he, , ''Yəšaʿyāhū'', "God is Salvation"), also known as Isaias, was the 8th-century BC Israelite prophet after whom the Book of Isaiah is named. Within the text of the Book of Isaiah, Isaiah himself is referred to as "the ...
, a powerful figure, gives the illusion of a three-dimensional character, flanked by
putti A putto (; plural putti ) is a figure in a work of art depicted as a chubby male child, usually naked and sometimes winged. Originally limited to profane passions in symbolism,Dempsey, Charles. ''Inventing the Renaissance Putto''. University of ...
figures. He carries a scroll inscribed with a supplication in Hebrew for entry into Heaven (Isaiah XXVI:2–3). Above him is a dedication in Greek to
Saint Anne According to Christian apocryphal and Islamic tradition, Saint Anne was the mother of Mary and the maternal grandmother of Jesus. Mary's mother is not named in the canonical gospels. In writing, Anne's name and that of her husband Joachim come o ...
. Due to wear, Raphael's work has been retouched by other painters over time. In 1960, the fresco was restored to Raphael's vision.


St. Anne Altar

Johann of Goritz (also Gorizius), from
Luxembourg Luxembourg ( ; lb, Lëtzebuerg ; french: link=no, Luxembourg; german: link=no, Luxemburg), officially the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, ; french: link=no, Grand-Duché de Luxembourg ; german: link=no, Großherzogtum Luxemburg is a small lan ...
, commissioned Raphael to paint the
prophet In religion, a prophet or prophetess is an individual who is regarded as being in contact with a divine being and is said to speak on behalf of that being, serving as an intermediary with humanity by delivering messages or teachings from the s ...
Isaiah Isaiah ( or ; he, , ''Yəšaʿyāhū'', "God is Salvation"), also known as Isaias, was the 8th-century BC Israelite prophet after whom the Book of Isaiah is named. Within the text of the Book of Isaiah, Isaiah himself is referred to as "the ...
in fresco on a pillar in the
Basilica di Sant'Agostino it, Basilica di Sant'Agostino in Campo Marzio , image = Sant Agostino Fassade.jpg , caption = Façade from the Piazza di Sant’Agostino , coordinates = , image_size=270 , mapframe-frame-width=270 , m ...
. Soon after his arrival in Rome, his name was Latinised to Janus Corycius. He held the office of receiver of requests. Janus was a
patron of the arts Patronage is the support, encouragement, privilege, or financial aid that an organization or individual bestows on another. In the history of art, arts patronage refers to the support that kings, popes, and the wealthy have provided to artists su ...
. Wishing to leave a mark in Rome, he had a chapel built in the Sant'Agostino basilica, with an
altar An altar is a table or platform for the presentation of religious offerings, for sacrifices, or for other ritualistic purposes. Altars are found at shrines, temples, churches, and other places of worship. They are used particularly in paga ...
commissioned in 1512 honoring his
patron saint A patron saint, patroness saint, patron hallow or heavenly protector is a saint who in Catholicism, Anglicanism, or Eastern Orthodoxy is regarded as the heavenly advocate of a nation, place, craft, activity, class, clan, family, or perso ...
Saint Anne. The altar included this fresco of Isaiah and a marble grouping of ''Virgin with St. Anne'' by Andrea Sansovino. The Saint Anne altar was intended as his tomb. At the dedication of the church, a steady stream of literary friends honored Corycius with verses that were later published in the 1524 book ''Coryciana'' by Blosius Palladius, later Bishop of Foligno. The book named 120 poets who contributed verses. During a renovation of the church in the 18th century, the sculpture by Sansovino was separated from Raphael's fresco. In the late 20th century the fresco was conserved and the sculpture was restored to its original position below.


Michelangelo influence

Much comparison is made of the Raphael fresco ''Prophet Isaiah'' to the work of Michelangelo,
Ernst Gombrich Sir Ernst Hans Josef Gombrich (; ; 30 March 1909 – 3 November 2001) was an Austrian-born art historian who, after settling in England in 1936, became a naturalised British citizen in 1947 and spent most of his working life in the United Kin ...
going as far to suggest that Michelangelo may have hired Raphael to work on
Ezekiel Ezekiel (; he, יְחֶזְקֵאל ''Yəḥezqēʾl'' ; in the Septuagint written in grc-koi, Ἰεζεκιήλ ) is the central protagonist of the Book of Ezekiel in the Hebrew Bible. In Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, Ezekiel is acknow ...
for the Sistine Chapel, which he believes is much more reflective of Raphael than of Michelangelo. This would have allowed Raphael to both gain influence by Michelangelo and also contribute to the decoration of the Sistine Chapel. Within the ''Prophet of Isaiah'', noted influences by Michelangelo include: * similarity of figural composition * self-enclosed situation of Isaiah * the manner in which the scroll is held, in a spiral formula as evolved by Michelangelo Legend has it that Corycius complained to Michelangelo that he had been overcharged for the fresco, to which Michelangelo responded, "the knee alone is worth the price demanded."Sweetser, Moses Foster (1879).
Raphael
'. Houghton, Osgood. p. 58.


See also

*
List of paintings by Raphael The following is a list of paintings by Italian Renaissance painter Raphael. Together with Michelangelo and Leonardo da Vinci he forms the traditional trinity of great masters of that period. He was enormously prolific, despite his early death at ...


References


External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Prophet Isaiah, The Paintings by Raphael Nude art
Raphael Raffaello Sanzio da Urbino, better known as Raphael (; or ; March 28 or April 6, 1483April 6, 1520), was an Italian painter and architect of the High Renaissance. List of works by Raphael, His work is admired for its clarity of form, ease of ...
Paintings depicting Hebrew Bible prophets 1512 paintings