Raphael: Fame and Fortune

Excellent online three week course from Paula Nuttall on Raphael to compliment the National Gallery exhibition.

Paula split the course into three useful sections the road to fame, which looked at his years in Urbino and Florence; the achievement of fame, looking at his arrival in Rome and early work for Pope Julius II; and finally the triumph of fame looking at the vast amount of work he did in the last five years of his life.

We of course covered his paintings and fresco work but also looked at him a print maker, architect, stucco artists and designer of sculpture. She also looked at the influences on his work and how he studies and borrowed from other artists without copying. I was particularly interested to learn about works he quoted which would have been in Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo’s studios when he was in Florence but were not yet on public view.

Paula had wonderful illustrations and led us though a huge amount of information in a clear and engaging fashion. I came into the talks a bit sceptical about Raphael but came out realising what an innovator he had been and it really set me up for visiting the exhibition a few weeks later.

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