Raphael Sanzio da Urbino
One of the most interesting pieces of information I managed to find was in a chapter of Giorgio Vasari’s book19 on Raphael Sanzio’s life. There he tells of Raphael sending some of his drawings to Dürer, who promptly reciprocated: (ph.19)
“By these and other works the fame of Raphael spread to France and Flanders. Albert (Albrecht) Dürer, a remarkable German painter and author of some fine copper engravings, paid him the tribute of his homage and sent him his own portrait, painted in water-colours, on byssus, so fine that it was transparent, without the use of white paint, the white material forming the lights of the picture This appeared marvellous to Raphael, who sent back many drawings of his own which were greatly valued by Albert (Albrecht)...”After reading this passage I felt quite surprised as the description of the self-portrait which Dürer gave to Raphael matched in an amazing way the image on the Veil of Manoppello. Knowing the organoleptic uniqueness of the Holy Face, which according to current studies appears to be the only one in the world, I was rather astonished. Nevertheless, after this initial clue, I kept looking for more detailed information on the subject. As I needed the authoritative support of an expert, I sought the advice of Professor Rosella Gallo20 of the Academy of Fine Arts in Naples, and I informed her about my findings. She got back to me after a couple of days telling me that there was a further mention of the self- portrait in the second edition of Vasari’s “La Giuntina” in the chapter on the life of Giulio Romano. Here is the text: (ph.20)
“Among the numerous treasures in his house there was a portrait of Albert (Albrecht) Durer, by himself, on fine cambric, sent by him to Raphael, diligently executed in water-colours, and finished without using white lead, the fabric itself serving for the whites and the fine threads being used to represent the hairs of the beard, and when held up to the light it was transparent all over. Giulio, who valued it highly, showed it to me himself as a miracle once when I was on business at Mantua”This new passage by Vasari strengthened my belief that the object he described was none other than the Holy Face of Manoppello. I immediately started looking for further clues to corroborate my intuition. First thing, I needed to find out whether more detailed reference to this object existed in the work of Dürer. I perused all the most authoritative biographies of the artist and also catalogues of all the major museums and worldwide art collections containing works by Dürer, but the search was vain. None of the works by the artist matched Vasari’s description. Then there was a chronological issue. According to Father Da Bomba’s historical report, the veil landed in Manoppello in 1503. Father Pfeiffer believes, after his studies on the Roman Veronica, that it arrived there in 1608. Dürer was born in 1471 and died in 1528, while Raphael was born in 1483 and died in 1520. In 1515 Raphael sent him a drawing he made for the Battle of Ostia, on which Dürer himself noted down: “Raphael from Urbino, who was so highly regarded by the Pope, made these naked figures and sent them to Albrecht Dürer in Nuremberg, to show him some work by his hand”. I then tried to match the features on the veil with those in Dürer’s self-portraits, comparing the one made in 1500, and also the ones made in 1493 and 1498, but I found some discrepancies. After this careful iconographic analysis, I started to consider the possibility that Vasari might have made a mistake and the picture was actually a portrait of Raphael rather than Dürer’s self-portrait.I got hold of all the portraits and self-portraits of Raphael and I tried a new comparison. The first work I analyzed was the “Double Portrait”, kept in the Louvre in Paris (ph.21). The results of the comparison were astonishing. The consistency points between the two images were numerous: the hair, the beard, the shape of the eyes and the eyebrows.
Raphael Sanzio Da Urbana as an older man, around
35 years old, just before his death in 1520