Сult and Critique of Raphael in the Late Nazarene Movement

The cult of Raphael is an important part of German romantic culture of the beginning of the 19th century. There were the Nazarenes who developed the cult of the Renaissance genius, and Raphael’s modern reputation is based on these romantic tradition. The article reveals special features of late romantic cult of Raphael, which caused the critique of the Italian master in the second half of the 19th — 20th centuries. The article discusses the art works of the Nazarenes (Franz Pforr, Peter von Cornelius, Franz and Johann Christian Riepenhausen). Special attention was paid to the art works and texts of the founder of Nazarene movement J.F. Overbeck of the 1830–1840s. This material was compared with the German art criticism of the same years, dedicated to the Düsseldorf Academy, an art school considerably influenced by the Nazarenes (A. Fahne, H. Püttmann). Typical for the Nazarene movement is the cult of Raphael as the main Christian painter, whose art is characterized as pure and harmonious. Other features of Raphael’s works, such as dynamic and emotional expressiveness of the form, were ignored or criticized. Such approach was firstly used in the J.F. Overbeck’s comment to the program painting The Triumph of Religion in the Arts (1829–1840) and developed in his later works (The Marriage of the Virgin, 1834–1836; The Lamentation, 1840–1845). This simplified image of Raphael became the subject of criticism for the next authors’ generation who supported the realistic searches of the masters of the mid-19th century. Nevertheless, Raphael’s works continued to be used as a standard for discussing of modern religious paintings.