I have chosen to compare Piero della Francesca’s “Battista Sforza and Federico da Montefeltro” (1474) and Raphael’s “The Small Cowper Madonna” (1505).
Both works utilize atmospheric perspective applied to a rural landscape including trees/shrubberies, fields, buildings, and hills or mountains. Raphael’s Madonna and Child are shown with a church in the background, giving the piece religious connotations from the figures in the front to the setting found behind them. The portraits of Battista Sforza and Fredrico feature a little harbor in their background. Instead of the usual religious propaganda painted into portraits, Piero della Francesca inserted a setting for business, located on the husband’s half, and behind the wife there are serene hills an fields with suggestions of a city. These patrons are firmly planted in a secular world blatantly announced by the painting and inscriptions praising their Earthly accomplishments. Raphael’s “small” Madonna and Child are subtly discussing religious matter, not blatantly announcing anything. Even their halos are barely visible, practically just hints of holiness. Though they are presenting two completely different ideas, both works present portraits with landscapes that support each other.
The woman and her baby are positioned in an intimate, comfortable way. Slouching, heads tilted, they hold on to each other, smiling gently and sweetly as they look to something in the viewer’s plan of existence. Most of the Madonna’s body is shown so that there can be a pyramid structure with her legs on the bottom coming the closest to us followed by her hands and the Child, topped by her face. Her hair recedes as it goes behind her, continuing the pyramidal structure behind her, which is further stabilized by the cloak or blanket she sits. Battista Sforza and Federico da Montefeltro are placed facing each other, looking languidly into each other’s eyes, and distancing themselves from the viewers and the background. We see profiles, stiff and straight, showing the top of their torso and the good sides of their faces. They are placed in the center of each of their respective frames. They make a solid image that reflects what you might be able to see through a window, while Raphael’s figures look more like two characters you could sit by a wall and have a conversation with. Piero della Francesca’s work is to be admired and looked at, but Raphael’s is to be appreciated with emotional or imaginary interaction.
Both use mostly saturated colors, especially to emphasize atmospheric perspective. Vibrant reads and deep blues and greens mark what is close up and the hills or mountains in the back disappear into a white horizon. The main difference that I see in the color usage is in the flesh. While Piero della Francesca seems to have been attempting a realistic rendering of their faces, they seem much flatter than Raphael’s and, to me at least, sicklier. Raphael’s flesh, pale as it is, seems rounder and softer as well as healthier or more lively. If Raphael’s figures started moving, it would not surprise me. Battista Sforza and Federico da Montefeltro, on the other hand, do not really look as if they are capable of more movement than blinking, since they might be halfway through a blink as they are. The range of shading used on these two seem minimal when compared to “The Small Cowper Madonna,” and the result is a flatness that High Renaissance artists appear to have abandoned. Another contributor is the shifts in color. Raphael painted soft changes in color, while Piero della Francesco moved much more abruptly. Battista Sforza’s head goes from pale skin directly to greenish blonde hair while Raphael’s Madonna’s temples slowly turns into her hair which blends with her ears and the shadows around her neck.
So, even though both works used very similar colors and settings, they accomplished a sense of realism to different degrees, and, using different configurations and subject matter, they both present unified and coherent portraits with singular intimations.