Raphael – as an icon of hope

When we think of the great names of the Renaissance, Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo immediately come to mind. Yet one figure is often underestimated – Raphael. He was not only a master painter but also a humanist, a philosopher in visual form, and a shaper of the human image. His significance goes far beyond the beauty of his works. Especially now, in anticipation of the major Raphael exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York in 2026, it is time to look at his oeuvre afresh – as a cultural milestone and a signal of hope for a renewed humanistic society.

Raphael – more than a painter

Raphael (1483–1520) was an artist who united beauty with freedom of the mind and the depth of human empathy. His works are not mere decoration but visual programmes, synthesising philosophy, theology, and politics. A prime example is the celebrated “School of Athens”in the Vatican Stanze: a painting that assembles the ancient philosophers, from Plato to Aristotle, while at the same time affirming the Renaissance ambition for intellectual renewal. Here Raphael was no mere painter; he acted as a philosophical advisor through art, translating complex ideas into image.

Humanism in colour

Raphael’s Madonnas remain, to this day, a paradigm of tenderness and intimacy. The Virgin and Child appear not distant and otherworldly but human, approachable, imbued with care. This humanity within the sacred is what renders Raphael timeless.

Psychologically, these paintings open spaces of empathy: they allow the viewer to share in the mother’s gaze and the child’s sense of safety. Raphael thus becomes not only a painter of theology but a shaper of human relationships. He offered a vision of dignity, intimacy, and compassion – a vision that resonated deeply in an age standing on the threshold of the Reformation.

Raphael and the power of society

Raphael worked in times of upheaval. The Church displayed splendour and power but was internally fragile. Martin Luther was soon to challenge its authority. Raphael did not respond with polemics, but with images of order and harmony.

Yet behind this beauty lies a subtle social message: Raphael’s art shows that community is not sustained by dominance but by empathy. His portraits – for instance, the famous depiction of the humanist Baldassare Castiglione – reveal not merely status or power, but character, intellect, and humanity. This is why Raphael feels so relevant today: in an age of polarisation, his works remind us that a humane society rests upon compassion and dialogue.

Raphael within today’s humanism

Contemporary debates about a “new humanism” go far beyond education and reason; they speak of empathy, diversity, and responsibility. Raphael’s art resonates strikingly with these themes:

• His images of women transcend idealised holiness and grant them individuality and strength.

• His depictions of children portray them as independent beings, not mere symbols.

• His compositions invite the viewer into dialogue – much as modern philosophy and psychology view art as a space of resonance.

In this sense, Raphael feels astonishingly modern: his art does not merely represent, it creates relationships.

Icons and Rarities

Among the highlights of the forthcoming Met show is the celebrated Alba Madonna (c. 1511), a tondo from the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., here displayed for the first time alongside preparatory drawings from Lille. Equally impressive is the breadth of international loans: works from the Louvre, the Uffizi, the Albertina, the Prado and the Vatican Museums will open a window onto virtually every facet of his œuvre – from refined studies on paper to monumental paintings and tapestries.

A Distinct Curatorial Hand

The exhibition is curated by Carmen Bambach, head of the Department of Drawings and Prints at the Met. A distinguished authority on the Italian Renaissance and on Leonardo da Vinci, she describes the seven-year preparation as “an extraordinary opportunity to reframe our understanding of this monumental artist.” Bambach also curated the blockbuster “Michelangelo: Divine Draftsman & Designer” in 2017, which drew more than 700,000 visitors and remains one of the most attended exhibitions in the museum’s history.

The Met’s Director, Max Hollein, emphasises that the exhibition offers “a unique opportunity to experience the breathtaking range of Raphael’s creative genius, through both iconic works and rarely lent treasures – many seen together here for the very first time.”

A Cultural Landmark

“Raphael: Sublime Poetry” promises to be more than a major retrospective. It is a cultural event of international standing: an attempt to sharpen the image of an artist whose work is world-renowned, yet whose subtle radicalism and inventive power are too often overshadowed by the aura of harmony.

Magnificent though Raphael’s paintings are – whether executed by his own hand or in collaboration with his workshop – it is in his drawings that his genius emerges with the greatest clarity. As with the very greatest Renaissance artists, his works on paper reveal not merely a process of form-finding but a singular cast of mind. Raphael was perhaps uniquely able to translate and integrate the central fields of knowledge of his time – philosophy, theology, architecture, mathematics and natural observation – into a coherent visual language.

In what is probably his last surviving drawing, this capacity acquires an almost testamentary quality: the intellectual breadth of the artist condensed into a single, extraordinarily complex image. Against this backdrop, an episode of more recent scholarship assumes particular significance.

A quarter of a century ago, ArtExpert, working in close collaboration with the eminent Raphael specialist Konrad Oberhuber, investigated a work that can with high probability be regarded as the artist’s final autograph creation – a work that may rightly be called his artistic and historical legacy. The extensive and multifaceted analysis of this discovery remains unpublished to this day. Yet according to Oberhuber, it suggests “with near certainty” the necessity of a fundamental reassessment of Raphael’s personal hand and intellectual approach. Especially regarding the autonomy of his draughtsmanship, this research points to a radicality and modernity in Raphael’s late work that has until now been obscured by the splendour of his monumental paintings.

For the United States, this exhibition marks a milestone – and for Raphael scholarship worldwide, it is an invitation to revisit seemingly familiar works and to recognise his independent graphic œuvre as perhaps the most profound expression of his genius.

Raphael - more than a master, an icon of hope

Raphael was more than a Renaissance master. He was a philosopher with a brush, a humanist in image, a builder of humanity through art, that made him an icon of Hope for ever. His paintings and drawings show us how beauty, empathy, and intellect can be woven together – in his time as in ours.

The Raphael exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum in 2026 is therefore not just a landmark for art lovers, but a call to rediscover the potential of humanism in an uncertain world.

In memoriam Konrad Oberhuber (1935–2007), who shared these thoughts and worked with the author on a re-evaluation of Raphael, particularly his drawings – a project he was unable to complete.

(1935–2007), who shared these thoughts and worked with the author on a re-evaluation of Raphael, particularly his drawings – a project he was unable to complete. (GS/Me)