New 'Raphael' of Julius II on display at the Staedel Museum
November 8 2013
Picture: Art Daily
Regular readers may remember that a couple of years ago the Staedel Museum in Germany announced that it had bought a newly discovered 'Raphael and Studio' portrait of Pope Julius II. At the time, I was more than a little sceptical, as you can read here (check out the woeful hands and the crude under-drawing). Now (Art Daily reports), the Staedel has put on a new exhibition explaining their logic, and comparing the new discovery to other versions of the painting. Happily, the National Gallery original has not been lent, and is represented in the photo above by a life size reproduction.
I still think the Staedel picture is most likely just a copy, and not by Raphael. But the compiler of the new Raphael catalogue raisonne thinks Raphael had a hand it in.
Update - the Grumpy Art Historian has been to see the exhibition, and is also unconvinced.
Update II - a reader writes:
The Gallery deserves credit for a responsible, careful effort, though, don't you think?
