Work of Art

PRESENTATION

RAFFAELLO (Raffaello Sanzio) , Saint George et le dragon, v. 1506, huile sur bois, 28,5 x 21,5, Washington, National Gallery of Art, 1937.1.26.

Quotation

I am of opinion that Francis Mazzalinus would have proved the only rare Man of the World, if he had never Painted any other kind of Pictures (as rude, gross, and melancholly) then these slender ones which he representeth with an admirable dexterity as being naturally inclined thereunto ; so that if he had only represented Apollo, Bacchus, the Nimphes, &c. he had sufficiently warranted this his most acceptable proportion, which was ever slender, and oftentimes to sleight, but when he took upon him to express the Prophets, our Lady and the like in the same ; as appeareth by his Moses at Parma, our Lady at Ancona, and certain Angells not farr from thence, and divers other things quite contrary to the Symetry they ought to have, he gave a president to all other Painters to shunne the like error : which himself might also have easily avoided, being reputed little inferiour to Raphael Urbine, whom he might have proposed to himself as a patterne ; for Raphael ever suited his personages answerable to the variety of the Natures, and Dispositions of the Parties he imitated : so that his Old Folks seem stiff and crooked, his Young Men agile and slender and so forth in the rest, which example admonisheth us, that a Painter ought not to tye himself to any one kind of proportion, in all his Figures ; for besides that he shall lose the true Decorum of the History : He shall commit a great absurdity in the Art by making all his Pictures like Twinns : […]. And for our better understanding of this kind of proportion […] Raph: Urbine hath very well expressed it in St. George fighting with the Dragon, now to be seen in the Churches of St. Victore de Fratri in Milane ; in St. Michaell at Fontainblew in France, and in that George, which he made for the Duke of Urbine on a Peice richly guilt, according to which Observation of his, every Man may dispose of this proportion in the like young Bodies, […].

Quotation

I am of opinion that Francis Mazzalinus would have proved the only rare Man of the World, if he had never Painted any other kind of Pictures (as rude, gross, and melancholly) then these slender ones which he representeth with an admirable dexterity as being naturally inclined thereunto ; so that if he had only represented Apollo, Bacchus, the Nimphes, &c. he had sufficiently warranted this his most acceptable proportion, which was ever slender, and oftentimes to sleight, but when he took upon him to express the Prophets, our Lady and the like in the same ; as appeareth by his Moses at Parma, our Lady at Ancona, and certain Angells not farr from thence, and divers other things quite contrary to the Symetry they ought to have, he gave a president to all other Painters to shunne the like error : which himself might also have easily avoided, being reputed little inferiour to Raphael Urbine, whom he might have proposed to himself as a patterne ; for Raphael ever suited his personages answerable to the variety of the Natures, and Dispositions of the Parties he imitated : so that his Old Folks seem stiff and crooked, his Young Men agile and slender and so forth in the rest, which example admonisheth us, that a Painter ought not to tye himself to any one kind of proportion, in all his Figures ; for besides that he shall lose the true Decorum of the History : He shall commit a great absurdity in the Art by making all his Pictures like Twinns : […]. And for our better understanding of this kind of proportion […] Raph: Urbine hath very well expressed it in St. George fighting with the Dragon, now to be seen in the Churches of St. Victore de Fratri in Milane ; in St. Michaell at Fontainblew in France, and in that George, which he made for the Duke of Urbine on a Peice richly guilt, according to which Observation of his, every Man may dispose of this proportion in the like young Bodies, […].

Quotation

I am of opinion that Francis Mazzalinus would have proved the only rare Man of the World, if he had never Painted any other kind of Pictures (as rude, gross, and melancholly) then these slender ones which he representeth with an admirable dexterity as being naturally inclined thereunto ; so that if he had only represented Apollo, Bacchus, the Nimphes, &c. he had sufficiently warranted this his most acceptable proportion, which was ever slender, and oftentimes to sleight, but when he took upon him to express the Prophets, our Lady and the like in the same ; as appeareth by his Moses at Parma, our Lady at Ancona, and certain Angells not farr from thence, and divers other things quite contrary to the Symetry they ought to have, he gave a president to all other Painters to shunne the like error : which himself might also have easily avoided, being reputed little inferiour to Raphael Urbine, whom he might have proposed to himself as a patterne ; for Raphael ever suited his personages answerable to the variety of the Natures, and Dispositions of the Parties he imitated : so that his Old Folks seem stiff and crooked, his Young Men agile and slender and so forth in the rest, which example admonisheth us, that a Painter ought not to tye himself to any one kind of proportion, in all his Figures ; for besides that he shall lose the true Decorum of the History : He shall commit a great absurdity in the Art by making all his Pictures like Twinns : […]. And for our better understanding of this kind of proportion […] Raph: Urbine hath very well expressed it in St. George fighting with the Dragon, now to be seen in the Churches of St. Victore de Fratri in Milane ; in St. Michaell at Fontainblew in France, and in that George, which he made for the Duke of Urbine on a Peice richly guilt, according to which Observation of his, every Man may dispose of this proportion in the like young Bodies, […].

Quotation

« De la Proportion du jeune corps de 9. testes » [ndr : titre de chapitre]
Je croy que si François Mazzolin n'eut jamais peint aucune figure d'autre genre, c'est à dire, grossier, grave, ou melancolique, qu'il auroit esté admirable au monde, puis qu'il representoit avec tant d'excellence les figures gresles, porté à cela par un gentil & mignard desir conforme à son genie. […] en d’autres semblables figures contraires à telle proportion, il a donné exemple à tous les autres Peintres, comme on doit fuir cette erreur, laquelle il pouvoit semblablement éviter, puis qu'estant consideré en quelque façon comme le genie de Raphaël Urbin, il pouvoit prendre exemple du mesme Peintre […] Duquel exemple l'on peut comprendre, que le Peintre ne se doit pas arreter à une mesme proportion en toutes les figures. Parce qu'outre qu'il ne monstre aucune verité en l'histoire, il represente au vray le plus grand defaut qui soit en l'Art […]. Et afin qu'on puisse éviter cette erreur, & entendre cette proportion (qui peut encore servir aux jeunes hommes qui tiennent du beau, comme font les gresles & jovials, avec une certaine maniere gentille & hardie tout ensemble) il se faudra servir de l'exemple du S. George qui tuë le serpent, fait par Raphaël d'Urbin, […] & au Sainct Michel qui est en France dans Fontaine-bleau, & au Sainct George qu'il fit autrefois fur une table pour le Duc d’Urbin. Et ainsi chacun pourra composer par la mesme regle la proportion de ce jeune corps.

Quotation

I am of opinion that Francis Mazzalinus would have proved the only rare Man of the World, if he had never Painted any other kind of Pictures (as rude, gross, and melancholly) then these slender ones which he representeth with an admirable dexterity as being naturally inclined thereunto ; so that if he had only represented Apollo, Bacchus, the Nimphes, &c. he had sufficiently warranted this his most acceptable proportion, which was ever slender, and oftentimes to sleight, but when he took upon him to express the Prophets, our Lady and the like in the same ; as appeareth by his Moses at Parma, our Lady at Ancona, and certain Angells not farr from thence, and divers other things quite contrary to the Symetry they ought to have, he gave a president to all other Painters to shunne the like error : which himself might also have easily avoided, being reputed little inferiour to Raphael Urbine, whom he might have proposed to himself as a patterne ; for Raphael ever suited his personages answerable to the variety of the Natures, and Dispositions of the Parties he imitated : so that his Old Folks seem stiff and crooked, his Young Men agile and slender and so forth in the rest, which example admonisheth us, that a Painter ought not to tye himself to any one kind of proportion, in all his Figures ; for besides that he shall lose the true Decorum of the History : He shall commit a great absurdity in the Art by making all his Pictures like Twinns : […]. And for our better understanding of this kind of proportion […] Raph: Urbine hath very well expressed it in St. George fighting with the Dragon, now to be seen in the Churches of St. Victore de Fratri in Milane ; in St. Michaell at Fontainblew in France, and in that George, which he made for the Duke of Urbine on a Peice richly guilt, according to which Observation of his, every Man may dispose of this proportion in the like young Bodies, […].

Quotation

« De la Proportion du jeune corps de 9. testes » [ndr : titre de chapitre]
Je croy que si François Mazzolin n'eut jamais peint aucune figure d'autre genre, c'est à dire, grossier, grave, ou melancolique, qu'il auroit esté admirable au monde, puis qu'il representoit avec tant d'excellence les figures gresles, porté à cela par un gentil & mignard desir conforme à son genie. […] en d’autres semblables figures contraires à telle proportion, il a donné exemple à tous les autres Peintres, comme on doit fuir cette erreur, laquelle il pouvoit semblablement éviter, puis qu'estant consideré en quelque façon comme le genie de Raphaël Urbin, il pouvoit prendre exemple du mesme Peintre […] Duquel exemple l'on peut comprendre, que le Peintre ne se doit pas arreter à une mesme proportion en toutes les figures. Parce qu'outre qu'il ne monstre aucune verité en l'histoire, il represente au vray le plus grand defaut qui soit en l'Art […]. Et afin qu'on puisse éviter cette erreur, & entendre cette proportion (qui peut encore servir aux jeunes hommes qui tiennent du beau, comme font les gresles & jovials, avec une certaine maniere gentille & hardie tout ensemble) il se faudra servir de l'exemple du S. George qui tuë le serpent, fait par Raphaël d'Urbin, […] & au Sainct Michel qui est en France dans Fontaine-bleau, & au Sainct George qu'il fit autrefois fur une table pour le Duc d’Urbin. Et ainsi chacun pourra composer par la mesme regle la proportion de ce jeune corps.