User:Wirthel/Raphael and La Fornarina

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= Raphael and La Fornarina =

Raphael and La Fornarina was painted in 1813 in Italy by Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres. It is the first of five versions of the painting, which he completed between 1813 and his death in 1867. In 1814 his first version was exhibited at the Salon. The work shows the renowned painter, Raphael, sitting in his studio with his mistress, La Fornarina (the baker), on his knee. His embrace reflects his affection and desire for her, while his gaze towards his own artwork, his portrait of his mistress, indicates his love for art. This contrast represents the painter's major conflict between who he loves and what he loves. The mistress makes eye contact with the viewer and her posture, specifically her arms resting on his shoulders, shows how proud and satisfied she is with being his mistress and inspiration. The Fornarina's sensual gaze at the viewer claims her importance and place both within the artist's studio and profession. Although Ingres thoroughly researched the Renaissance artist's life through biographies by Giorgio Vasari and Angelo Comolli, and planned to create a series of paintings based on his life, in the end he only produced two scenes: Raphael and La Fornarina, and its succeeding versions, and the Betrothal of Raphael. The depiction of the Fornarina resembles not only the Virgin Mary, in the painting in the background of the Madonna della Seggiola, but also Ingres' depiction of the promiscuous Grande Odalisque. The illustration highlights an interconnection between Raphael and Ingres as they both paint what they desire.

Background
Towards the end of the eighteenth century, paintings depicting and glorifying the lives of prominent and famous artists became popular among the Bourgeoisie and were exhibited at the Salon (Paris). This painting is an example of the Troubadour style as its subject is a great Renaissance figure and illustrates a detailed and intimate Renaissance studio scene, by incorporating columns, colored tiles, furniture, such as the easel, armchair, and stool and by creating a linear grid. Besides the increased interest in Renaissance masters during the early nineteenth century, Ingres became intrigued and curious about Raphael's artworks and life after seeing a replica of the Madonna della seggiola, in his teacher's Toulousian art studio. At the beginning of the eighteenth century, Ingres was awarded the Rome Prize. 'There was an increase in French presence and culture in Italy during Ingres' time there, due to Napoleon.' 'Although Ingres submitted his works to the Salon, one of them being the Raphael and La Fornarina, he only receive little recognition.'

Description and Compositional Analysis
The painting shows Raphael and his ravishing mistress, the Fornarina in his art studio. Her pose is dynamic, energetic, graceful, and alive as she is both hugging the artist, yet also pulling away and distancing herself. Rosalind E. Krauss, a renowned art critic, interprets the anecdotal episode, specifically the Fornarina's seductive gaze as evoking the idea she is embraced only after she has seen, appreciated, and admired his work. She has a beautifully symmetric face, is wearing a turban scarf on her head, is dressed in a green velvet gown, and is adorned in gold jewellery. The turban is a typical hairstyle found in high Italian Renaissance artworks. Her bare skin, naked shoulders, and draping dress speaks for her desired body. Ingres uses Raphael's La Fornarina as his model for the mistress. In the background there is a view of the Vatican, specifically showing the Cortile di San Damasco, where Raphael had painted his famous frescos, and which places the artist in the heart of Rome. In the scene, another one of his paintings, Madonna della seggiola can be found. Ingres used Raphael's own self-portrait, located in the Uffizi, as his model for the painter. Ingres focused on details to achieve perfection. The contrast between the living, breathing, and really existing Fornarina as opposed to the idealized Fornarina on the canvas, on the easel, is central to this painting. The Fornarina is physically present in Raphael's life, but she is also alive in his portrait, living in the painter's imagination. The perfect resemblance of the portrait of the Fornarina demonstrates both Ingres' and Raphael's artistic talent. On the one hand, the Fornarina's facial features and garments in both depictions resemble those of the Madonna della seggiola which makes the mistress appear saintlike. In the depiction of the Madonna della seggiola, appearing in the background, Ingres intentionally cuts off the image of the Son to emphasize the likeness between the Madonna and the Fornarina. In Raphael's Madonna della seggiola, St. John is present on the right hand side, while in Ingres' version, he is not visible. The resemblance in features and pose, specifically the embrace between the Fornarina and Raphael, is similar to that of the Virgin Mary holding her son. On the other hand, there is also a strong likeness between the illustration of the mistress and Ingres' painting of the Grande Odalisque. "In these works the Virgin and the odalisque are not merely sisters, they are one. ... These images seem to amalgamate two different kinds of emotional response - sexual desire of male for female and reverential love of son for mother."

Raphael embraces his mistress, but instead of looking at her, his face is turned away from her, his desire, and is observing and admiring his own work. Raphael is faced with the decision of having to choose between his love for his mistress and his vocation. She is a distraction and will lead to his downfall, yet she and his art are interconnected because she represents beauty and beauty is what inspires him and his artwork.

Ingres and Raphael
In 1813, at the time of the painting, Ingres married Madeleine Chapelle, which likely influenced and led him to specifically focusing on Raphael's relationships with women. In Le Roman d'amour de M. Inges, by Henry Lapauze, Ingres' and Raphael's relationships and encounters with women are contrasted and analyzed. Raphael was engaged to Cardinal Medici Bibbiena's niece, but was an adulterer as he was sleeping with a commoner. Ingres had only three romantic relationships and although he was known to be surrounded by women, he was not a debauchee, rather a restrained, chivalrous gentleman. In a letter to a women, Ingres wrote: "I will live and die the servant of women." Raphael was 37 when he died of debauchery, the Fornarina was his vice. "When Balzac rewrote Raphael's d'Urbino story, he had his protagonist die in a lustful embrace, his death rattle obscuring the words of desire that his larynx would produce." Depictions of La Fornarina were often accredited to Giulio Romano, Raphael's student, in order to disassociate Raphael from dishonorable artworks, such as paintings of his mistress. Contrastingly, Ingres died at the old age of 86 from a bilateral pneumonia, after being exposed to cold bursts of wind in efforts to help his wife. These differences shape the interrelation between painters and their desires where Raphael, the debauchee, paints his beloved mistress and Ingres commits debauchery in repeatedly painting Raphael with his mistress.

Versions
'Following the 1813 version of Raphael and La Fornarina he produced four additional versions in 1825, 1830, 1840, and 1860.' 'He also produced one signed drawing and four prints illustrating the two subjects.' "Ingres explained his decision in 1860 to undertake yat a fourth version in oils by saying, 'I am taking up again the picture of Raphael and La Fornarina, my last edition of this subject, which will, I hope, cause the others to be forgotten.'" Rosalinda Krauss disproves the theory that Ingres created various versions of his artwork for 'the pursuit of perfection', but rather that:"'Through this movement of repeatability its 'perfection' has been breeched in advance. Because - and this was precisely Ingres' practice if not his 'intention' -each repetition is always a recontextualization of the model -a change in scale, medium, site. Each repetition thus as well involves a change in meaning. This is a change to which the model itself has always, and in advance, been open. The model's 'truth', its absolute ness, its indivisible self-presence, has never, theoretically, been possible.'"Over his life time, Ingres' interests shifted from 'oil replica' toward the technology of mechanical reproduction.'

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 * This page was last edited on 26 September 2020, at 10:54.
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