43
evident. Perhaps Raphael’s
Transfiguration,18
his final painting left unfinished
due to his sudden death, served as a model for Garofalo’s Resurrection. The
Ferrarese painter could have had the opportunity to see preparatory drawings
for the painting in Raphael’s workshop during his second stay in Rome, around
1517–1519. Perhaps he was inspired by the division of the composition into
two levels and the figure of Christ hovering in the air. Raphael’s countless pictorial
inventions, which Garofalo could admire in Rome, formed an inexhaustible
source of inspiration – not only for the luminous figure of Christ but also
for the tomb guard seated in the right foreground. The latter appears to be a
citation from the Expulsion of Heliodorus from the Temple in the Vatican Stanze
– a figure recorded by Raphael on a sheet now in the Ashmolean Museum
in
Oxford.19
A study for an unrealized Resurrection by Raphael, depicting the
grave, angels, and guards in the lower register, appears to be another significant
model.20
Garofalo’s altarpiece is closely related to this sheet compositionally.
The latterly inserted figure of the soldier also appears derived from the parallel
figure on the right side of this sketch.
3.1 ART HISTORICAL INTERPRETATION OF THE TECHNICAL DATA
On the basis of the infrared reflectogram (see fig. 3) and x-radiograph (see
fig. 7) made during the current conservation treatment, the development
of the composition reveals a methodical approach. The insights gained from
the images allow the following reconstruction of the picture’s
creation.21
Garofalo prepared the composition carefully. Vasari reports that he employed
jointed models made of clay and wood to study the positions of figures and
record them on paper, thereby emphasizing the importance of observation
from
nature.22
Although his drawn oeuvre is relatively small and no sheets
related to the Resurrection are known, it can be assumed that Garofalo
made both preparatory drawings and compositional sketches. The infrared
reflectogram shows an underdrawing executed in a dry medium. Lines
drawn using a ruler divide the scene (see fig. 9), while the figures are generally
sketched with free lines (see fig. 12b).
The x-radiograph reveals that the relatively few pentimenti are largely
confined to the figure of Christ and the sarcophagus. Garofalo corrected
the foreshortening of the blessing arm during the painting process, moving
it slightly upward; he narrowed the fold of the robe below the arm and
shifted the position of the foot to the right (see fig. 14b). With minimal
changes, Garofalo corrected the figure of Christ to determine his proper
position in relation to the sarcophagus. The changes to the sarcophagus
likewise relate especially to its spatial relationship with the resurrected
Christ. The lid originally had a high, narrow, gabled roof that – like that
executed – terminated in acroteria. In the first version, Jesus’s foot rested
directly on the lid. To visualize the movement of the Resurrected into heaven,
Garofalo changed the shape of the lid, making it wider and lower. The
change to the Moses statue followed that of the sarcophagus. This was
originally larger and stood on a round base (see fig. 17a). The painter
18 Rome, Pinacoteca Vaticana, inv. no. 40333.
19 Malagutti 2013/14 (cit. n. 1), 19, fig. 9.
20 Oxford, Ashmolean Museum, inv. no. PII558; ex. cat. Achim Gnann (ed.), Raffael,
Vienna (Albertina) 2017, 278 f., cat. no. 87; Malagutti 2013/14 (cit. n. 1),
21 f.
21 For a detailed description of the picture’s creation from a technical perspective,
see section 4.
22 Vasari 1881 (cit. n. 1), 464. See also Alessandra Pattanaro, Per Garofalo disegnatore:
uno studio per la pala di Modena e qualche riflessione sull’uso dei mo
delli di terra e di legname, in: Prospettiva 119–120, 2005, 105–111.
RESURRECTION
OF CHRIST
