Resumen de The altered background of Raphael's 'Portrait of Pope Julius II' in the National Gallery
Part of a special section on Raphael on the occasion of “Raphael: From Urbino to Rome,” an exhibition at the National Gallery, London, through January 16, 2005. The writer discusses investigations made into the altered background of Raphael's Portrait of Pope Julius II in the National Gallery. When in 1969 the work was X-rayed and subsequently cleaned, discoveries included a radically altered background. In 1970, several paint samples, particularly from the background, were examined as cross-sections, revealing that the first background consisted of a hanging patterned textile. During preparation for the current exhibition, the opportunity arose to reexamine the work, and additional cross-sections were made from samples taken at the edges of the composition in order to clarify the stages of the background's development. Considered in conjunction with the first series of samples and the X-ray image, these new samples have allowed the extension of the earlier visualization of the textile pattern, its color scheme, and the logic of its repeats.
