These must be two of the most famous angels in the world. They are reproduced everywhere.
They are by Raphael (Raffaello Sanzio), who put them at the bottom of this big painting (265 x 196 cm.) now in Dresden, called The Sistine Virgin.
Some scholars believe the painting was made to decorate the tomb of Pope Julius II—the same pope whose tomb Michelangelo finally sculpted. The two figures beside the Virgin, St. Sixtus and St. Barbara, are thought to be portraits of Julius and his niece, Julia Orsini, or of Lucrezia della Rovere, another niece.
Perhaps Julius asked Raphael to paint this picture after cancelling his project with Michelangelo for a great marble mausoleum. Michelangelo never got over his disappointment. To the end of his days he considered Raphael and the architect Bramante his enemies. He believed they were the ones who had persuaded the Pope to give up the marble tomb project and also the ones who had suggested that he, Michelangelo, paint the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel, for which work he was not prepared. “They were sure I would botch the job and make a fool of myself,” he told his biographer Condivi.
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Maybe the pope was running low on funds and looking for a cheaper way to be remembered.
He was certainly running low on funds, Bill. He had wars to wage, for instance, and you know how expensive those can get. Still, somehow he always came up with the money for his projects. For the final version of the tomb he left ten thousand crowns, which was very big money. His heirs did become impoverished, though.
I love the angels.
http://www.teamwarfare.com/images/halfthesky2.jpg
In the classic movie after Irving Stone’s Agony and Extazy (the state of mind not the pill!) Bramante figures all right as Michelangelo’s enemy. But Raphael seems more like an admirer…Of course, that’s only in the movies…
You are going to make me see that movie finally, Danu!
Rafael certainly tried to imitate Michelangelo’s style, but Michelangelo was apparently wrong to consider him a sort of thief. He should have counted him his best student. Nor do the experts I have read believe Rafael tried to hurt Michelangelo out of envy. That was all a spook of Michelangelo’s. The same goes for Bramante, apparently. Vasari and Condivi are both full of stories about how Michelangelo put him down, about what a bad architect he was, etc. But there is no proof he ever did anything mean, such as put the idea to cancel the tomb into Julius’ head.
Maybe it was just jealousy from Michelangelo’s side…
I think these are well known, but the one of DaVinci’s “Annunciation” is more famous and probably does not even owe his fame to that Code (which I have not read). And it is a real Angel, the real thing.
And since you know everything, would you also know where the idea of painting little baby angels came from???