Raphael: Sublime Poetry
Metropolitan Museum of Art
March 29 through June 28, 2026
Reviewed by Ed Voves
Original photography by Anne Lloyd
Raphael: Sublime Poetry, on view at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, posed a challenge which I seldom encounter when discussing art exhibitions.
The challenge? How to frame a tribute for an exhibition of such a magnitude of excellence that the usual litany of accolades and plaudits falls way short of the mark.
Even to describe this brilliant appraisal of the Renaissance master's art as a "once-in-lifetime" experience does not do it justice. This is the first ever exhibition devoted to Raphael to be presented in the United States.
Raphael: Sublime Poetry presents 170 works of art by a man celebrated as "the prince of painters." Every aspect of Raphael's multi-tasking career - painting, drawing, architecture, tapestry design, archaeological scholarship, even poetry - is explored with admirable clarity.
Ed Voves, Photo (2026)
Gallery view of Raphael: Sublime Poetry
at the Metropolitan Museum of Art
Sensing that I was searching for superlatives, my wife, Anne, took a break from photographing the exhibition galleries.
"Here is a suggestion for describing the exhibit," Anne confided. "Huge in its scope and ambition."
Yes, that is exactly what one feels in the galleries of Raphael: Sublime Poetry.
During a tragically short life, Raphael devoted his amazing talents to achieve greatness in every conceivable genre of art. Kenneth Clark, in Civilization, ranked him as an "Artist as Hero" (along with Leonardo and Michelangelo). The Met's exhibition, paying tribute to Raphael's heroism, has reached the same exalted status.
Anne Lloyd, Photo (2026)
Gallery view of Raphael: Sublime Poetry. Shown here is a tapestry depicting The Sacrifice at Lystra, designed by Raphael, 1515-16.
Anne Lloyd, Photo (2026)
Dr. Carmen C. Bambach, curator of Raphael: Sublime Poetry
Rafaello di Giovanni Santi was born in 1483 in Urbino. A well-governed city-state, with impressive cultural institutions, Urbino was located in Umbria. Raphael, as a result, lacked the "insider" status of Florence's artistic elite. But Raphael's father, a well-regarded poet/artist, provided his son with an introduction to Renaissance culture which was spreading throughout Italy.
Tragedy struck Raphael, early on. His mother died when he was eight years old. His father was stricken with malaria three years later
Anne Lloyd, Photo (2026)
A self-portrait of Raphael, dating to ca.1499
Following the death of Raphael's father's 1494, little is known about the young artist's life until 1500. Records for that year show that he was recognized as a "magister" or independent artist at the age of seventeen. But there is no "paper trail" documenting his training as an artist or his earliest works of art.
In 1502, Raphael entered into some sort of a collaboration with one of the most accomplished artists of the era. Perugino (1450-1523) was a fellow Umbrian, a fine portrait painter and a prolific creator of altar pieces and devotional art.
The influence Perugino exerted upon the young Raphael was profound, as can be seen in the painting below. Raphael even adapted a stylistic hallmark of Perugino's painting technique, in the way that the little fingers of Christ's gesturing hand are shown curled together.
Anne Lloyd, Photo (2026)
Raphael's Christ Blessing with the Stigmata in a Landscape, 1504-5
However, there is no documentation that Raphael was ever the student or apprentice to Perugino, as many scholars, beginning with Giorgio Vasari, once believed. A colleague of Perugino, certainly, even an assistant - and always ready to observe and to learn - but Raphael was his own man, from a very early age.
Where and how, Raphael came so quickly to be such an accomplished artist is a mystery. The first gallery of the Met exhibition displays a number of works of art by Raphael's father, Giovanni, and by Perugino. Whatever Raphael learned from either, he quickly surpassed them both.
A comparison of two paintings, one by Perugino, the other by Raphael, reveals the precocious genius of the latter.
Anne Lloyd, Photo (2026)
Perugino's Saint Augustine with Members of an
Augustinian Confraternity, and detail, ca. 1500.
Perugino's Saint Augustine with Members of an Augustinian Confraternity was painted around 1500. The huge, intimidating theologian and the praying acolytes behind him were skillfully executed. But the four robed figures are awkwardly positioned. Look closely and they seem to be kneeling on the bench on which St. Augustine is seated or hovering in mid-air around him.
Anne Lloyd, Photo (2026)
Raphael's Madonna & Child Enthroned with Saints, God the Father and Two Angels (the Colonna Altarpiece), ca. 1504-05
By contrast, Raphael's Colonna Altarpiece, ca. 1504-05, is marked by a dynamic interplay of the figures surrounding the blue-robbed Virgin Mary and the Infant Jesus. All of the protagonists in the painting are perfectly proportioned and positioned according to the rules of perspective. God the Father and the angels above occupy celestial space, yet seem equally believable.
Small-scale narrative scenes at the base of the altar, called predella panels, show scenes from the life and death of Jesus. These episodes convincingly remind Christians that their salvation is founded upon Christ's death on the cross.
Anne Lloyd, Photo (2026)
Raphael's Processional Cross with Crucified Christ and Roundels Depicting the Virgin and Saints, 1500-1503.
Equally convincing is the way that Raphael incorporated the painted figure of the crucified Jesus on a gold, ceremonial cross. Small portraits of persons associated with the drama of the crucifixion were painted on roundels and positioned on the beam ends of the cross: Mary, the mother of Jesus, St. Peter, St. John the Evangelist and Mary Magdalene.
Yet, there is nothing about the presentation of Christ's suffering, bleeding body or the worshipful portraits of Mary and the saints that is the least bit ornamental.
Such was the incredible skill of the young Raphael - he was barely twenty at the time he created these small images - that the drama of the crucifixion of Jesus is as powerfully and poignantly portrayed as if it had been painted as a scene on a much larger wooden panel.
Raphael was clearly a youthful prodigy, but his work ethic matched his genius.
Raphael's prodigious production of drawings, of superlative quality, is key to appreciating how he was able to create depictions of events from Christian sacred history, often of a miraculous nature, and make them seem perfectly natural.
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Raphael's The Annunciation
(Cartoon for the left predella panel of The Oddi Altarpiece), 1503-04
A carefully-delineated preparatory drawing of the Angel Gabriel and the Virgin Mary reveals the level of Raphael's exactitude. Significantly, this was done for a small predella panel, similar to the ones we discussed above.
Anne Lloyd, Photo (2026)
Gallery view of Raphael: Sublime Poetry at The Met
Yet, it would be a mistake to emphasize the academic, technical side of Raphael's drawings at the expense of appreciating these for their beauty and joyful embrace of life.
Raphael's drawings range from quick sketches exploring the most attractive poses for his Madonnas and infants to a red chalk study of an angel with the Virgin Mary to a highly finished "head and hands" portrait of two of Christ's apostles.
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Anne Lloyd, Photo (2026) Raphael's Sketches of Infants;
the Virgin and Child, ca. 1507-08
Anne Lloyd, Photo (2026)
Raphael's Studies for an Angel and the Virgin, ca. 1516–18
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Raphael's The Head and Hands of Two Apostles
("Auxiliary Cartoon" for the Transfiguration), ca. 1519–20
However different in technique, these drawings are infused with Raphael's insight into the basic humanity of his subjects. What is notable, too, is his empathy for the people who modeled for him. One has only to focus on the eyes and expressions in the above drawings, the "quick sketch" of Madonnas and infants, especially, to appreciate the depth of Raphael's feeling for his fellow human beings.
Anne Lloyd, Photo (2026)
Detail of Raphael's Sketches of Infants; the Virgin & Child,1507-08
The loving expression in the drawing above is one of the most beautiful evocations of motherhood that I have ever beheld. It needs to be underscored that Raphael's sketch was "prep work" for one of his Madonna and Infant Jesus paintings. These, of course, rank among his most famous and beloved works.
Anne Lloyd, Photo (2026)
Raphael's The Virgin and Child (The Large Cowper Madonna),1508
The Met's exhibition has several of these signature works on display, notably the Large Cowper Madonna, on loan from the National Gallery in Washington, D.C.
Over the centuries, Raphael's Madonna and Infant Jesus paintings have provided spiritual encouragement and comfort to millions of people. It is interesting to speculate that the special sensitivity which Raphael devoted to these works was motivated by the loss of his own mother when he was a child.
Anne Lloyd, Photos (2026)
A selection of Raphael's Madonnas: The Small Cowper
Madonna (1505), Cartoon for the Mackintosh Madonna (1509-11),Virgin & Child with Angels (Madonna of the Candelabra, 1514-16)
To study Raphael's Madonna paintings in a group setting, as in the Met's exhibition, makes it possible to trace an evolving appreciation of God's place and role in the world - as we humans envision it.
Anne Lloyd, Photo (2026)
Portable Icon with the Virgin Eleousa, early 1300's
Byzantine icon depictions of Mary and Jesus had directed the attention of Christians away from earthly horrors and temptations, to the Heavenly World to come. The same was true of earlier Italian masters like Duccio. Raphael, however, presents the Divine presence in very immediate, comforting human terms, as close as the Christ child, nestled in Mary's arms.
One of the decisive influences on Raphael's evolving style, discernible in his Madonnas and portraits, was Leonardo da Vinci. In 1504, Raphael began to explore more innovative modes of painting than Perugino's. Travelling to Florence, he met Leonardo, then at work on two masterpieces at the same time, the never-finished Battle of Anghiari and the Mona Lisa. Leonardo and Raphael maintained a cordial, mutually-beneficial relationship until they died, within a year of each other, 1519-20.
Raphael's Portrait of a Lady with a Unicorn is an homage to Leonardo's Mona Lisa. It was painted, during the years 1505-06. By this point, Raphael had time to absorb the powerful impact of Leonardo's revolutionary ideas and technique. While paying tribute to Leonardo, Raphael was also able to make this a personal statement.
Raphael, Portrait of a Lady with a Unicorn, 1505-06
Portrait of a Lady with a Unicorn, unlike Mona Lisa, is a professionally finished work. Raphael, following Perugino's example, knew how to complete a painting on schedule. Leonardo, by contrast, began working on Mona Lisa around 1503, continuing until 1517. The Giocondo family, who likely commissioned the portrait, never received it.
Customer satisfaction was another hallmark of Raphael's brand. Evidently, a marriage engagement portrait, Lady with a Unicorn originally held a small lap-dog in her hands. Raphael painted-over the dog with the image of the mythical animal which was symbolical of chastity.
In 1509, Raphael was called to Rome to work for Pope Julius II. Raphael was commissioned to paint four huge frescoes for one of the papal apartments, the Stanza Della Segnatura. The subject of the principal fresco was the "School of Athens." Plato, Aristotle, Pythagoras, Euclid, Heraclitus (whose features were modeled on Michelangelo), the artist Apelles (a self-portrait by Raphael) and other leading figures from ancient Greece were depicted in a elaborate architectural setting of stupendous complexity.
Raphael, The School of Athens Fresco, 1509-1511
As John Canaday wrote in his classic The Lives of the Painters (1969):
We often hear nowadays of the painter who takes the visual world and reduces it to its essence as a painted abstraction... Raphael reversed the trick: he took an abstract philosophical exercise and gave it virtually tangible form, which is never easy and in this case, should have been impossible.
Raphael, aged twenty-six, should have failed at a task way-beyond his previous experience. In fact, he succeeded so triumphantly that he was commissioned to paint fresco series for three other papal apartments. The cumulative physical toll of this titanic enterprise contributed to his early death from overwork.
The Metropolitan's curators address the epic of Raphael's "Stanzas" in a bold and ambitious manner, perhaps overly ambitious. They obviously cannot borrow frescoes from the Vatican nor can they paint reproductions for a temporary exhibition.
Instead, the Met curators hearkened back to the 2017 Michelangelo exhibition, which replicated the Sistine Chapel frescoes with a lighted photo version on the gallery ceiling. This technique worked brilliantly for Michelangelo, so naturally they tried a modified format for Raphael.
Eileen Traveil, Photo (2026, courtesy of The Met)
Installation view of the Digital Video Projection Gallery
of Raphael: Sublime Poetry
However, instead of focusing just on the Stanza della Segnatura and the 'School of Athens", a video loop projects all four of the fresco series. While this shows the incredible work undertaken by Raphael, the rapid succession of images makes it difficult to study any of them in detail.
Ed Voves, Photo (2026)
View of the Digital Video Projection Gallery of Raphael: Sublime Poetry
A more effective method would have been to limit this "immersive" presentation to the Stanza della Segnatura. Raphael painted this entirely himself, while the later frescoes were largely the work of assistants to his designs, and not always to his exacting standards.
Following the saga of the Papal apartment frescoes, the exhibition proceeds to Raphael's magnificent portraits and his designs for vast tapestries depicting incidents from the Acts of the Apostles.
Raphael, Portrait of Baldassare Castiglione, 1515-1516
Of the portraits on view, that of Baldassare Castiglione is the obvious standout. It is a masterful evocation of all that it means to be a thinking, feeling, sensitive human being.
The portrait of Castigilione, a close friend of Raphael's from Urbino, shows that the weary Raphael could still reach into his artist's soul and produce a masterpiece. Look into Castiglione's eyes and you will see a reflection of Raphael.
Then, on Good Friday 1520, Raphael's own eyes closed forever. A lingering fever, perhaps from malaria, killed him, as it had cut-short his father's life.
Great art, however, does not die. The life of Rafaello di Giovani Santi has been gloriously revived at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
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Text: Copyright of Ed Voves, all rights reserved
Original photography, copyright of Anne Lloyd
Introductory image: Anne Lloyd, (Photo 2026) Raphael's Angel in Bust-Length (Detail of fragment from the Baronci Altarpiece) ca. 1500-1501. Oil with gold highlights on canvas (transferred from
wood): 12 3/16 × 10 7/16 in. (31 × 26.5 cm) Pinacoteca Tosio Martinengo e Fondazione Brescia
Musei, Brescia (149)
Ed Voves, Photo (2026) Gallery view of Raphael: Sublime Poetry at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Anne Lloyd, Photo (2026) Gallery view of the Raphael: Sublime Poetry at the Metropolitan Museum of Art Shown here is a tapestry depicting The Sacrifice at Lystra, designed by Raphael, 1515-16.
Anne Lloyd, Photo (2026) Dr. Carman S. Bambach, curator of the Raphael: Sublime Poetry exhibition.
Anne Lloyd, Photo (2026) Raphael's Portrait of a Young Boy (Presumed to be a
Self-Portrait), ca. 1500. Grayish black chalk, highlighted with white (now
lost), on laid paper: 15 × 10 1/4 in. (38.1 × 26.1 cm) Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, Presented by a Body of
Subscribers in 1846 (WA1846.158)
Anne Lloyd, Photo (2026) Raphael's Christ Blessing with Stigmata in a Landscape, ca. 1504-5. Oil on wood: 12 3/8 × 10 1/16 in. (31.5 × 25.5 cm) Pinacoteca Tosio Martinengo e Fondazione Brescia
Musei, Brescia (150)
Anne Lloyd, Photo (2026) Perugino's Saint Augustine with Members of an Augustinian Confraternity, 1500. Oil on wood, 37 ⅜ × 25 ⅜ in. (94.9 × 64.5 cm) Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh (61.42.1)
Anne Lloyd, Photo (2026) Raphael's Madonna & Child Enthroned with Saints, God the Father and Two Angels (the Colonna Altarpiece), ca. 1504-05. Oil and gold on wood” Main panel, overall 67
7/8 x 67 7/8 in. (172.4 x 172.4 cm), painted surface 66 3/4 x 66 ½ in. (169.5 x
168.9 cm) Lunette, overall 29 1/2 x 70 7/8 in. (74.9 x 180 cm), painted surface
25 1/2 x 67 1/2 in. (64.8 x 171.5 cm) Gift of J. Pierpont Morgan, 1916. Metropolitan
Museum of Art.16.30ab
Anne Lloyd, Photo (2026) Raphael's Processional Cross with Crucified Christ and Roundels Depicting the Virgin and Saints, 1500-1503. Tempera and gold on wood: 18 7/16 × 13 3/16 × 7/8 in. (46.8 × 33.5 × 2.2 cm) Museo Poldi Pezzoli, Milan (4129)
Raphael (Italian, 1483-1520) The Annunciation (Cartoon for the Left Scene in the Predella of the Oddi Altarpiece) ca. 1503-4. Pen and brown ink, brush and brown wash, ruling in pen and brown ink and stylus: 11 1/4 × 16 5/8 in. (28.5 × 42.3 cm) Musée du Louvre, Département des Arts Graphiques, Paris (3860)
Anne Lloyd, Photo (2026) Gallery view of the Raphael: Sublime Poetry exhibition.
Anne Lloyd, Photo (2026) Raphael's Sketches of Infant the Virgin and Child, ca. 1507-08. Pen and brown ink, over leadpoint underdrawing
(recto), metalpoint, highlighted with white gouache, on paper prepared yellowish pink (verso): 9 × 12 5/16 in. (22.8 × 31.2 cm) École Nationale Supérieure des
Beaux-Arts (Beaux-Arts de Paris) (310, 311
Anne Lloyd, Photo (2026) Raphael's Studies for an Angel and the Virgin, ca. 1516–18. Red chalk, partly over preliminary stylus underdrawing, 8 × 8 13/16 in. (20.3 × 22.4 cm) Teylers Museum, Haarlem (A 068)
Raphael (Italian, 1483-1520) The Head and Hands of Two Apostles. ("Auxiliary Cartoon" for the Transfiguration), ca. 1519–20. Black chalk, traces of white gouache highlights, drawn freehand over pounce marks (spolvero underdrawing) on laid paper. Ashmolean Museum, Oxford. (WA1846.209) © Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford.
Anne Lloyd, Photo (2026) Detail of Raphael's Sketches of Infants; the Virgin & Child,1507-08. (See above)
Anne Lloyd, Photo (2026) Raphael's The Large Cowper Madonna, 1508. Oil on wood, likely poplar: 31 3/4 × 22 5/8 in. (80.7 × 57.5 cm) National Gallery of Art,
Washington, D.C., Andrew W. Mellon Collection (1937.1.25
Anne Lloyd, Photo (2026) A selection of Raphael's Madonnas: The Small Cowper Madonna (1505).Oil on wood: 23 7/16 × 17 5/16 in. (59.5 × 44 cm) National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C. (1942.9.57); Cartoon for the Mackintosh Madonna (1509-11). Black chalk, charcoal: 28 × 21 in. (71.1 × 53.3 cm) The British Museum, London; Virgin & Child with Angels (Madonna of the Candelabra, 1514-16. Oil on poplar wood (two members; thickness reduced, panel cradled, size cut down) Framed: 47 1/16 × 49 1/2 × 8 1/4 in. (119.6 × 125.7 × 21 cm)Walters Art Museum, Baltimore (37.484)
Anne Lloyd, Photo (2026) Portable Icon with the Virgin Eleousa, early 1300's. Miniature mosaic set in wax on wood panel, with gold,
multicolored stones, and gilded copper: Overall: 4 7/16 x 3 3/8 x 1/2 in. (11.2 x 8.6 x 1.3
cm) Metropolitan Museum if Art. 2008.352.
Raphael (Italian, 1483-1520) Portrait of a Lady with a Unicorn, 1505-06. Oil on canvas, transferred from wood: 26 3/8 × 22 1/16 in. (67 × 56 cm) Galleria Borghese, Rome. Photo: Mauro Coe.
Raphael (Italian, 1483-1520) The School of Athens, 1509-11. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_School_of_Athens#/media/File:%22The_School_of_Athens%22_by_Raffaello_Sanzio_da_Urbino.jpg
Eileen Traveil, Photo (2026, courtesy of The Met) Installation view of the Digital Video Projection Gallery of Raphael: Sublime Poetry
Ed Voves, Photo (2026) Gallery view of the Digital Video Projection Gallery of Raphael: Sublime Poetry.
Raphael (Italian, 1483-1520) Portrait of Baldassarre Castiglione,1514-1516. Oil on canvas: 32 5/16 × 26 3/8 in. (82 × 67 cm) Musée du Louvre, Paris, (611 [MR 437])
Anne Lloyd, Photo (2026) Detail of Portrait of Baldassarre Castigliano, 1514-16.
