''The Three Graces'' is an

oil painting Oil painting is a painting method involving the procedure of painting with pigments combined with a drying oil as the Binder (material), binder. It has been the most common technique for artistic painting on canvas, wood panel, or oil on coppe ...

by Italian painter

Raphael Raffaello Sanzio da Urbino (; March 28 or April 6, 1483April 6, 1520), now generally known in English as Raphael ( , ), was an Italian painter and architect of the High Renaissance. List of paintings by Raphael, His work is admired for its cl ...

, housed in the

Musée Condé The – in English, the Condé Museum – is a French museum located inside the Château de Chantilly in Chantilly, Oise, 40 km north of Paris. In 1897, Henri d'Orléans, Duke of Aumale, son of Louis Philippe I, bequeathed the château and ...

of Chantilly,

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

. The date of origin has not been positively determined, though it seems to have been painted at some point after his arrival to study with

Pietro Perugino Pietro Perugino ( ; ; born Pietro Vannucci or Pietro Vanucci; – 1523), an Italian Renaissance painter of the Umbrian school, developed some of the qualities that found classic expression in the High Renaissance. Raphael became his most famou ...

in about 1500, possibly 1503-1505. According to James Patrick in 2007's ''Renaissance and Reformation'', the painting represents the first time that Raphael had depicted the nude female form in front and back views.

Inspiration and theme

The image depicts three of the Graces of classical mythology. It is frequently asserted that Raphael was inspired in his painting by a ruined Roman marble statue displayed in the Piccolomini Library of the Siena Cathedral—19th-century art historian an Kheld that it was a not very skillful copy of that original—but other inspiration is possible, as the subject was a popular one in Italy. Julia Cartwright in ''Early Work of Raphael'' (2006) proposes that the painting bears far more influence of the school of Ferrara than classical sculpture, making clear that the statue was not Raphael's model. The three women in the painting may represent stages of development of woman, with the girded figure on the left representing the maiden (Chastitas) and the woman to the right maturity (Voluptas), though other interpretations have certainly been advanced.Bodkin (2010), p. 108. In 1930, Professor

Erwin Panofsky Erwin Panofsky (March 30, 1892 – March 14, 1968) was a German-Jewish art historian whose work represents a high point in the modern academic study of iconography, including his hugely influential ''Renaissance and Renascences in Western Art ...

proposed that this painting was part of a

diptych A diptych (, ) is any object with two flat plates which form a pair, often attached by a hinge. For example, the standard notebook and school exercise book of the ancient world was a diptych consisting of a pair of such plates that contained a ...

along with '' Vision of a Knight'' and that based on the theme of ''Vision'' the painting represented the

Hesperides In Greek mythology, the Hesperides (; , ) are the nymphs of evening and golden light of sunsets, who were the "Daughters of the Evening" or "Nymphs of the West". They were also called the Atlantides () from their reputed father, Atlas (mytholog ...

with the

golden apple The golden apple is an element that appears in various legends that depict a hero (for example Hercules or Făt-Frumos) retrieving the golden apples hidden or stolen by an antagonist. Gold apples also appear on the Silver Branch of the Otherwor ...

s which Hercules stole. Some art historians disagree with Panofsky's conclusion. Roger Jones and Nicholas Penny, in 1987's biography ''Raphael'', suggest that the scale differences of the figures in the paintings make it unlikely that they were intended as a diptych, though "one might have formed the lid of the other." In ''16th Century Italian Art'' (2006), Michael Wayne Cole opines that while "there can be no doubt that they form a pair...they must not be imagined as a diptych, which is excluded by their square shape and also by the change in scale of the figures." Cole presents the figures as handmaidens of

Venus Venus is the second planet from the Sun. It is often called Earth's "twin" or "sister" planet for having almost the same size and mass, and the closest orbit to Earth's. While both are rocky planets, Venus has an atmosphere much thicker ...

, holding the golden apples with which she is associated and affirming the proper connection of "

Virtus () was a specific virtue in ancient Rome that carried connotations of valor, masculinity, excellence, courage, character, and worth, all perceived as masculine strengths. It was thus a frequently stated virtue of Roman emperors, and was perso ...

" (presented by ''Vision'') and ''Amor.''Cole (2006), p. 43.

References

External links

* {{Authority control Paintings by Raphael 1500s paintings Paintings in the Musée Condé Nude paintings of women

Inspiration and theme

See also

References

External links