Fragment of a Tapestry Cartoon: Outstretched Hand, Body of a Seraph, and a Wing 1500 - 1550

Curator: Our next stop brings us to a captivating fragment. It is catalogued as “Fragment of a Tapestry Cartoon: Outstretched Hand, Body of a Seraph, and a Wing,” dating roughly to the years 1500-1550. The artwork is attributed to Raphael. Editor: Fragment indeed! At first glance, there’s a ghostly, ethereal quality to this piece. The pastel palette gives a faded, dreamlike feel to the rather substantial imagery depicted. Curator: The emphasis is on line and form; the rendering suggests a study focused entirely on the relationship between these elements and space. Consider, for example, how Raphael uses cross-hatching within the wing itself. The use of this strategy serves to create dimension and, significantly, directs the viewer’s eye. Editor: Absolutely. You also can’t ignore the tension inherent in its creation as a mere fragment; as viewers we yearn to envision the implied totality from whence these pieces were extracted. Consider what purpose they once held within the tapestry; that missing element profoundly affects the viewer experience. I am curious, however: is it common to see seraphim portrayed with this level of corporeal substance, that heaviness within the hand and torso? Curator: The Italian Renaissance sought a novel integration of classical ideals with religious themes. Presenting holy beings with pronounced physicality humanizes them, making their divinity both grand and intimately accessible. Editor: It underscores an important socio-political component within the tapestry production itself; through a lens of shared understanding the Renaissance masters elevated religious material from the sole purview of the clergy to an accessible public realm. Curator: We begin to understand that “Fragment of a Tapestry Cartoon” speaks to a broad historical context; it remains a powerful object lesson in structural balance as a mode for the construction of meaning. Editor: Ultimately, both the formal choices, and the social contexts that impacted production, imbue this relic with undeniable and still very engaging aesthetic appeal.