Wednesday, January 28, 2015

Raphael Portrait

I quite like this portrait Raphael did of pope Julius II, there is an honesty to it. Most portraits of that time period seem to glorify the ego of the subject, this work seems true, honest. Julius II was the pope who commissioned Michelangelo to paint the roof of the Sistine Chapel. You got to like a pope who paid for the frescos on the Sistine and also had the courage to allow Raphael to paint his true nature, to show the underlying feelings of his heart. He is worthy of this portrait.

Pope Julius II by Raphael, 1511