Perugia, Florence and Rome · devotion, allegory and power

The National Gallery in London allows you to follow Raphael from the young master of the Crucifixion Mond to the Florentine Madonnas and the meditative portrait of Julius II.

The Crucifixion Mond retains the clarity of language learned from Perugino, but the bodies and angels already reveal personal research. A Knight's Vision transforms the moral choice between Virtue and Pleasure into allegorical sleep. The Madonna with Carnations then introduces Florentine sweetness: Mary and the Child play with flowers that announce the Passion. Saint Catherine of Alexandria turns in front of a landscape with a force that unites grace and future martyrdom. Finally, Julius II, seated, bearded and absorbed, reinvents the pontifical portrait. Saint Catherine of Alexandria turns in front of a landscape with a force that unites grace and future martyrdom. Finally, Julius II, seated, bearded and absorbed, reinvents the pontifical portrait. The London ensemble forms a true chronology of Raphael ambition. The London ensemble forms a true chronology of Raphael ambition. The "Raphael at the National Gallery in London" selection puts particularly with regard to Crucifixion Mond and An Allegory ("Vision of a Knight"). His reading favors movement.

In London, we see Raphael learning, choosing, loving, resisting and governing: five experiences linked by ever deeper clarity.