Sir Nicholas Penny

This talk will consider the nature of Raphael’s centrality in both the theory and practice of art in Europe over four centuries and the implications of his altered status in the last century. It will then trace the ways in which his achievement has been defined by historians (not only art historians) and how that has been altered by the ways in which the meaning of the Renaissance has evolved. Next, it will review recent studies of the artist, his students, associates and circle – the nature of his collaborative enterprise in the largest sense. And finally it will speculate as to how collaborative contemporary scholarship, involving both conservation science and archival investigation, may help us to comprehend more fully the nature of that enterprise.