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Beth: And here we have Julius II, painted by Rafael.
Julius II, the great patron of the high Renaissance,
and it's thanks to Julius that we have,
oh gosh, so many things.
The ceiling of the Sistine Chapel,
the Basilica of Saint Peter's,
Rafael's frescoes in the Stanza.
Steven: He was also a warrior.
He financed that extraordinary building campaign
through his military campaigns
and through some excesses, in fact, ultimately,
in the political realm.
You know, it will be Luther that responds against
some of the excesses of the Church under this pope
that will actually spark the Reformation.
Beth: Yeah, it's hard for us to imagine a pope leading armies,
and yet that's certainly what Julius did.
Steven: But look at the way that he's represented.
You know, he is a monarch.
He sits on a throne.
He wields power that is both spiritual
and that is political.
Beth: Absolutely.
At this time, the papacy claimed political right
to various lands in Italy,
and it actually wasn't until the 20th century that the papacy,
the Vatican relinquished those rights.
Steven: And, in fact, the way the national gallery in London
dates this painting is because of the beard that he wears,
which he wore in mourning for the city of Bologna,
which he had lost in battle.
The other issue is the way in which economic power
and spiritual power are linked.
I mean, look at the size of the gems
in the rings that he wears,
and look at the crispness and the clarity
with which those jewels are rendered.
Compare them to the softness of the edging of the fur
of his cloak and of the cap that he wears.
And I'm especially taken by the flowing crisp lightness of ...
Beth: The crinkles.
Steven: Yes, exactly.
Of the crinkles of that undergarment.
I think what's most striking
and what's most, I think, effective about this portrait
is the psychology and the humanity of that face.
Beth: He's shown very thoughtfully.
He's not shown as a warrior at all,
and he looks down toward the right.
His body's turned a little bit off center,
and so he's depicted in a very human way,
not as an all-powerful figure, but as a man.
Steven: He's not idealized.
He's older. He's not beautiful.
Beth: No.
Steven: And he's clenching his teeth.
There's a kind of determination,
a kind of inwardness of thought
that's being represented here that's incredibly effective.
Beth: Yeah, and that I think is carried down
into his hands, too.
That with one hand, he's got a handkerchief,
so there's a softness there,
and a kind of thoughtfulness, even,
in the holding of the handkerchief
which we can imagine being put up to the head,
and then the way that he clasps the arm of the chair,
kind of more forcefully with his left hand,
so in a way, all sides of Julius' personality emerge
as we contemplate this picture by Rafael.
Steven: There are some other sort of iconographic
elements that are probably worth just mentioning.
You'll notice that at the tops of the chairs,
there are these large, upside down acorns,
and that refers to his actual family name,
which means 'oak' in Italian.
Beth: Della Rovere.
Steven: And then there are,
that have been painted out by Rafael,
in the green background,
you can actually see these keys of Saint Peter,
the papal symbol.
Beth: And I'm also thinking about
the way that red and green are complementary colors
and this whole painting is about red and green, also.
Steven: It's true, and that really does
create a kind of intensity,
a kind of visual animation.
Beth: I'm struck by the way that,
as you said, so in love with it,
what the oil paint can do, right?
Steven: Yes.
here, in Italy, in the high Renaissance,
and the fur, the crinkles, the velvet, the gold,
the beard, the way that the beard has a different texture
Steven: All these textures, that's right.
Beth: Remarkable.
of the satin of his sleeve
compared to the crinkles below.
It's really quite remarkable.
The painting glows.
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