Table of contents:
- Mysterious model
- The most famous portrait with Fornarina
- Raphael's Secret Engagement and Official Engagement
- Donna Velata
- Fornarina's Fate
Video: The medieval story of the forbidden love of an artist and a model: Raphael and his Fornarin
2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55
Perhaps many consider Leonardo da Vinci to be an artist who hides the most mysterious and curious facts about his paintings and models. That only is the famous "Mona Lisa". Far from it! No less mysterious today is the love story of the artist Raphael and his model Fornarina.
Mysterious model
Who is this girl? Some historical evidence proves that she was the artist's secret bride. Fornarina is the nickname of a girl named Margarita Luti. According to some reports, she is the daughter of a local baker, Francesco Luti from Siena, who fascinated Raphael so much that he could not even work! Hence the nickname la fornarina - the little girl baker.
There is even a curious story. Raphael, born in 1483 in Urbino, was invited by the Sienese banker Agostino Chigi to paint his villa on the Tiber embankment in Rome. Agostino patronized the young Raphael and therefore invited the artist to paint the second floor of Villa Farnezina. The work took a long time, with delays and the customer subsequently guessed the "reason" for the irresponsible work and allowed Fornarina to move to the villa with Raphael. He successfully completed the work and, together with the students of Giulio Romano, Sebastiano del Piombo, Francesco Penni and Sodoma, created the composition of the famous fresco "Triumph of Galatea".
The most famous portrait with Fornarina
Fornarina's most famous painting by Raphael is the Portrait of a Young Woman (also known as Fornarina), a painting by Raphael between 1518 and 1519. In the painting, the master uses the classic style of realism, typical of the art of the Renaissance. Noticeable on the canvas is a strong and powerful use of light, which envelops the model with a glow, further enhancing its beauty and appeal. Fornarina smiles charmingly at both the artist and the viewer. Today it is housed in the National Gallery of Art in Palazzo Barberini, Rome. A very significant detail in favor of the opinion that Fornarina is precisely the artist's beloved: Raphael wrote his name on this famous portrait with Margarita Luti. And not just somewhere in the corner … But on the model's left hand, on the hand leading to the heart. "Raphael of Urbino". The signature is engraved on a thin ribbon that the girl wears right under her left shoulder. An even bigger mystery was revealed a few years ago: when the painting was cleaned and restored, something amazing was discovered on the girl's left hand - a wedding ring! Yes, Fornarina was the artist's bride, his beloved. But why did the artist paint over the ring?
Raphael's Secret Engagement and Official Engagement
A whole drama unfolds here: Raphael had to do it because, being in love with the baker's daughter, Raphael promised to marry … the niece of Cardinal Bernardo Dovizi Bibbiena. Rafael could not refuse the girl's status uncle, who strongly “recommended” her as a wife. This engagement had its benefits: it provided the artist with status and a platform from which to successfully create and sell his art, so it is possible that Raphael simply did not want to turn down the offer. But he did not go against his will either. The young singer of female beauty came up with a cunning solution: he constantly postponed the wedding until the cardinal's niece - Maria - died. Raphael never married her. The ring has been hidden for 500 years.
Raphael, or perhaps his friend Giulio Romano, who sold the painting shortly after the artist's death, painted over the ring. If the truth about the marriage of the artist and the model were revealed, a public scandal would be inevitable. Raphael's reputation would have been undermined. His disciples would have lost all orders from the Vatican. And this is not the last mystery of the portrait of the beloved: X-ray structural analysis showed that in the background of the picture there was originally a landscape in the form of a myrtle bush, which was sacred to Venus, the goddess of love. Thus, all the unraveled mysteries suggest that the artist was in love and secretly married to Fornarina, who remained his favorite model until the artist's death.
Donna Velata
Vasari, a contemporary of Raphael, wrote in his "Lives of Artists" that one day Raphael created a portrait of a woman of unprecedented beauty. And that this was the woman that Raphael loved until the end of his days. We are talking about "Donna Velata", which was again modeled by Fornarina. There are two interesting details to this work: the first is the decoration. Please note that the girl's hair has the same decoration as in the first portrait. Only it was written 2-3 years earlier. The second detail: "Donna Velata" is translated from Italian as "a woman with a veil." Such capes were worn exclusively by married Romans. But officially Fornarina was not married …
Fornarina's Fate
What was the fate of Raphael's beloved woman after the artist's death? Vasari writes that Raphael, realizing that he was dying, sent his beloved out of his house and ordered to provide her with a comfortable life. Pavel Muratov, a connoisseur of Italian art, is sure that the girl was subsequently forcibly exiled to a monastery. Although Raphael fully provided for her, after his death she was already defenseless. No one needed her to go public with her relationship with Raphael. After all, he was buried as the groom of the cardinal's niece.
Based on existing stories, "Portrait of a Young Woman" can be called a real relic, a story about a tragic and deeply romantic forbidden love. In terms of aesthetic value, it is a remarkable work of art that has captivated audiences since its inception and is a true masterpiece of the Renaissance.
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