He experimented with colour
Raphael’s treatment of colour changed over his career. “He had an early precocious period, a mature period and a late period all in 20 years,” explains Matthias Wivel, curator of the exhibition. “Colour is part of that. You can see it’s all the same artist but it’s astonishing, the development.” His early work was characterised by very bright, saturated colours and even lighting: the above painting from around 1504 is one such early piece. What is both pleasing and interesting is how he employs a repeated pattern of colour to link the line of the procession. When Raphael moved to Florence, he started to reect the traditions he encountered there. “His colour is more nuanced: it’s not as evenly distributed,” explains Wivel. “It’s still a broad range of colour but he blends and modulates. Then he changes again in Rome. Raphael is invested in technique and becomes interested in Chiaroscuro and deeply saturated colour with strong articulation of light and shade.”