Renaissance1519
The Raising of Lazarus
Caravaggio
Curator's Eye
"Christ commands Lazarus, whose body possesses a heroic musculature, to emerge from the tomb, surrounded by a crowd seized by stupor and devotion."
This monumental work represents the ultimate fusion of Venetian color and Michelangelo's design, conceived to surpass Raphael in an unprecedented artistic competition.
Analysis
Painted between 1517 and 1519, "The Raising of Lazarus" was commissioned by Cardinal Giulio de' Medici for Narbonne Cathedral. The historical context is one of exacerbated rivalry within the papal court of Leo X. Sebastiano del Piombo, a protégé of Michelangelo, was tasked with creating this panel to compete directly with Raphael's "Transfiguration." This work thus embodies a major political and aesthetic stake of the Renaissance: proving that the alliance of Venetian color and Roman plastic power could dethrone the genius of Urbino.
The narrative context relies on the Gospel of John (11:1-44). Christ raises Lazarus, the brother of Martha and Mary, after four days of death. In this interpretation, Sebastiano emphasizes the physical dimension of the miracle. We see Lazarus freeing himself from his bandages, a man restored to life but still bearing the marks of funeral lethargy. The Christian myth is treated here with a new dramatic intensity, where the sacred manifests through a nearly sculptural bodily force, inherited directly from Buonarroti's influence on Sebastiano.
Technically, the work is a feat of chromatic management. Sebastiano, trained in Venice, uses deep glazes and rich tones to saturate the space. The figure of Christ is of majestic nobility, while the female figures of Mary and Martha provide emotional fluidity. The use of a large wooden support allows for a monumental scale, where light contrasts serve not only for relief but for the expression of the supernatural. The background landscape, of Venetian softness, contrasts with the muscular tension of the foreground.
Psychologically, the canvas explores the diversity of human reactions to the impossible. Sebastiano depicts a range from the ardent faith of Lazarus's sisters to the stupor of the apostles and the skepticism of the Jewish onlookers. Lazarus himself seems to go through a state of existential confusion, his gaze seeking Christ in silent recognition. The work questions the boundary between death and life, flesh and spirit, creating an atmosphere of suspended tension that already foreshadows Mannerism through its emotional complexity.
A major secret of this work lies in Michelangelo's direct involvement. X-ray analyses and surviving preparatory drawings confirm that Buonarroti provided Sebastiano with precise sketches for the figure of Lazarus and some apostles. Michelangelo thus wanted to humiliate Raphael by proxy. Recent studies have shown that Sebastiano's "pentimenti" on the central figure aimed to accentuate the torsion of the body, a typically Michelangeloesque element called "figura serpentinata," to give more vigor to the resurrection.
Another mystery concerns the spectacular restoration carried out in the 19th century, when the work was transferred from its original wooden panel to canvas to preserve it from rot. This risky process revealed previously invisible details of the pictorial layer, notably the fineness of atmospheric details in the sky. Historians have also noted that Sebastiano deliberately used more expensive pigments, such as natural ultramarine, to ensure his canvas would catch the light better than Raphael's, playing on material brilliance to win.
The work also contains subtle political references to the Medici family. The choice of subject is not only religious; it symbolizes the rebirth and legitimacy of the Medici lineage after their return to power. Some faces in the crowd are believed to be portraits of personalities of the time, making this biblical scene a mirror of the 16th-century Roman court. The silent dialogue between the hands of Christ and Lazarus is an almost direct, though reinvented, citation of the Creation of Adam on the Sistine ceiling.
Finally, recent scientific analysis detected traces of fingerprints in the fresh paint on the edges of the canvas, suggesting that Sebastiano worked the material with his hands to soften color transitions, a Venetian technique called "sfregazzi." This proves that despite the massive influence of Roman design, the soul of the work remains deeply rooted in the sensoriality of Venice. The painting, now a jewel of the National Gallery in London, thus bears the physical marks of its creator and his illustrious mentor.
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