Famous Paintings

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Although we are unable to write papers for clients, please allow my notes to guide your paper. Once you formulate your essays, please feel free to send to us for editing and feedback:

First, you might select Raphael's Galatea from Villa Farnesina, Rome in 1513 as your sample piece. Its visual is found at http://www.artchive.com/artchive/R/raphael/galatea.jpg.html.

As you offer a description of the works including the style, please note that he chose a verse from a poem by Angelo Poliziano to show the sea-nymph's grace and joyful personality. In terms of style, please note that movement is a key feature. Critics say that for "every figure seems to correspond to some other figure, every movement to answer a counter-movement" (http://www.artchive.com/artchive/R/raphael/galatea.jpg.html). You might add how Raphael achieves constant movement throughout the picture. Although it is constantly moving, please not that there is still a sense of balance within this piece with its "perfect and harmonious composition of freely moving figures" (http://www.artchive.com/artchive/R/raphael/galatea.jpg.html).

When assessing Raphael's philosophies of art, please note that he focuses on a concept of beauty. "When he had finished the Galatea, Raphael was asked by a courtier where in all the world he had found a model of such beauty. He replied that he did not copy any specific model but rather followed a certain idea he had formed in his mind" (http://www.artchive.com/artchive/R/raphael/galatea.jpg.html).

Besides this unique concept of beauty, please note that Raphael's work also typifies the prevailing trends and schools of thought in the art world at the time and in the place the artist was working. For instance, you might note that like his teacher Perugino, Raphael abandoned the trend to portray nature in art. Instead, he "deliberately used an imagined type of regular beauty" (http://www.artchive.com/artchive/R/raphael/galatea.jpg.html).

Instead of looking at nature's ideal beauty, critics claim how "the process was reversed. Artists tried to modify nature according to the idea of beauty they had formed when looking at classical statues - they idealized the model. It was a tendency not without its dangers, for, if the artist deliberately 'improves on' nature, his work may easily look man ered or insipid. But if we look once more at Raphael's work, we see that he, at any rate, could idealize without any loss of vitality and sincerity in the result" ...