Crisp line, dazzling colour
By Elizabeth Lev
18 April 2008

Cardinal Ferry-Carondelet and his Secretaries

Sebastiano del Piombo: 1485-1547
Palazzo di Venezia

The Roman High Renaissance was rocked by a new entry in 1511. A young painter who could combine the power of Florentine line with the mesmerising effects of Venetian colour arrived in Rome and succeeded in winning acclaim in an artistic world dominated by Michelangelo and Raphael.

This prodigy was Sebastiano del Piombo, who for the first time since his death in 1547 is the subject of a monographic show at the Palazzo Venezia in Rome. A collection of 47 paintings and 21 drawings has finally restored this once-celebrated name to Roman lips.

Sebastiano Luciani was born in Venice in 1485. He was a gifted musician but a providential encounter with Giorgione, the giant of Venetian painting, persuaded him to try his hand at painting. The show opens with Sebastiano's early productions, from his first mythological landscape scenes with awkward figures displayed against glistening green hills or magically blue skies; colour came easily to the novice painter, but drawing did not.

The tremendous potential of the young artist would soon be revealed in the 1510-1511 organ doors for the Church of St Bartholomew in the Rialto. The four organ panels depict Ss Bartholomew and Sebastian on the outer doors while St Louis of Toulouse and St Sebaldus grace the inner doors. St Sebastian gestures dramatically, unperturbed by the arrows jutting out at angles from his body, while the dagger used to flay St Bartholomew glints with light.

By contrast, the inner panels glow in a mystical golden light as the meditative St Louis gazes serenely from folds of sumptuous crimson velvet, while the gravitas of St Sebaldus is enhanced by brown tones and subtly altering textures.

Agostino Chigi, the Sienese entrepreneur who bankrolled popes, kings and sultans, was charmed by Sebastiano during his Venetian trip in 1511 and swept him off to Rome to paint in his villa side-by-side with Raphael. Rome at that time was electrifying for Sebastiano. Raphael had just finished the Stanza della Segnatura and Michelangelo had opened the Sistine Chapel after completing the first half of the vault.

The challenges that beset the the 26-year-old painter when he first came to Rome are illustrated by the lofty halls of the exhibition space (Palazzo di Venezia is a former papal palace). Rome was at the height of its Renaissance grandeur and monumentality was the name of the game: little landscapes with their sparkling attention to detail would be lost in the city's towering basilicas.

Painting beside Raphael in the Chigi villa, Sebastiano got his first taste of the competitive spirit of the times. Although Raphael took the honours of the day, Sebastiano's work was widely praised and caught the attention of Michelangelo.

The encounter with Raphael had a powerful impact on both artists. Sebastiano learned the clear, crisp style of the Florentine and in turn Raphael absorbed the Venetian sense of colour. An example of Raphael's work after this collaboration would have been a wonderful complement to the exhibition, but fortunately in Rome one doesn't have to travel too far to see a painting by Raphael.

Sebastiano became a leading portrait artist in Rome, painting Genovese naval commander Andrea Doria, Christopher Columbus and female portraits believed to be of Vittoria Colonna, the virtuous poetess admired by Michelangelo. He was also responsible for the technical breakthrough of oil painting on slate, which allowed the colours to last longer.

One of the earlier Roman portraits displays the momentous collision of Sebastiano's two worlds. The foreground of Cardinal Ferry-Carondelet and his Secretaries is scattered with still-life, with letters littered on a lavish Persian carpet. Above this, his silk and ermine robes are set off by an olive velvet curtain.

Classical architecture frames the cardinal's fine-boned face, emphasising his nobility of spirit. Sebastiano tempers the portrait with notes of spontaneity. One secretary pauses, his pen in mid-air, while the other peers in curiously from the shadows like a bystander trying to steal a moment of fame from a network news camera.

Then come Sebastiano's Roman altarpieces, many resulting from his collaboration with Michelangelo, who provided several drawings for Sebastiano, from the celebrated Flagellation at San Pietro in Montorio from 1516-1520 (Michelangelo's drawing is on display in the exhibition) to the stunning Pietà from 1513-1516.

Although Michelangelo collaborated closely on this work, the design opposes his own Roman Pietà, with its compelling unity of mother and Son, by placing Christ on the ground, distant from Mary. The slack muscles and propped head, reflecting Michelangelo's study of cadavers, and the striking chromatic effects make this one of the most riveting works in the show.

While certainly an important exhibition, two things marred the pleasure of the visit. The installation of the works inside cubicles rendered it near impossible for more than one person to view the painting at a time, and the illumination of the rooms in neon blue, red or green - presumably to pick up the principal tones of Sebastiano's work - added a distressingly surreal note.

More problematic are the didactic panels. Before the armour-clad, dynamic Young Warrior of 1512, the commentary rambles on regarding "a slight suspicion of homosexuality", which is not merely unnecessary, but actually groundless in the work. Alluding to Sebastiano's work after Charles V's sack of Rome the organisers observe that his output "conveys a deep crisis, both figurative and spiritual" apparently brought on by "painful reflection on the moral and political causes of the sack", which has resulted in art that reflects the "gloomy fervour of the Counter Reformation". But of all the purportedly ominous Passion scenes in the room, not one is from after 1527, the year of the sack.

Sebastiano remained loyal to Clement VII and followed him into exile. He was appointed Keeper of the Seal, whence the name del Piombo. He took religious vows, was given a good salary and eventually lost interest in painting.

Sadly, the organisers also attempt to cast the painter as a victim of Church reform. But the clarity of Sebastiano's work speaks louder than any vague speculation.