This character, one of the most famous biblical prophets, is among the most represented subjects in Renaissance paintings and frescoes. Even the great Raphael painted it and more than once. This work, which is a 2,50 metres tall and 1,55 metres wide fresco, represents the work by Raphael that most resembles Michelangelo’s style, as if it was a recognition to his great rival that he really appreciated. This appreciation was apparently reciprocal. Painted between 1511 and 1512, just after finishing the Stanza della Segnatura in the Vatican Palace, this work was realized when Raphael was at the height of his fame and his painting technique was now stylistically perfect. Everyone wanted to hire Raphael, who, for this reason, often asked for very high pays. Michelangelo himself, immortal genius with an unlimited talent, praised this fresco for he was extremely impressed by it. Let’s consider the anecdote from which we deduct this. The prelate from Luxembourg, Johan Goritz, that commissioned this work, complained with Michelangelo about the (in his opinion) extremely high amount the artist from Urbino asked for it. The answer of the Renaissance master, always prickly and direct, was that that price covered the value of just a knee of Isaiah. Maybe the brilliant Michelangelo saw in this fresco a masterpiece very close to his style. In fact, the tribute Raphael paid to the prophet represented in the Sistine Chapel by the Tuscan prodigy (Michelangelo) is more than evident. Isaiah is depicted sit on a barely visible throne. He unrolls a scroll with his powerful arms while he turns his torso slightly to his left and his gaze to the right. This dynamic contrast, enhances and emphasizes the strength of the prophet that seems to burst out all of his energy also though the muscular arms and the posture of the left leg. This, partially uncovered, almost seems to push the enormous figure to stand up in a movement of pure vigor. The viewer can experience something similar looking at Michelangelo’s Moses, that the artist started to sculpt only one year after the completion of this fresco. Nothing prevents us from thinking that Michelangelo, in his sculpture, was influenced by it; actually, there is more than one scholar that claims that the idea of bending the left leg of the Moses to give the impression he is about to stand up was drawn up by Raphael’s Isaiah. The blue garment and the golden cloak are an obvious reference to the prophets of the Sistine Chapel, a very evident tribute Raphael wanted to make to the Tuscan genius. On the other hand, an element in which we can’t see any tribute nor reference to Michelangelo is certainly the face of the prophet. The rage, the severity and the austerity typical of the faces depicted by Michelangelo, severe to the point of being intimidating, give way to the elegance and delicacy of the features typical of Raphael’s works. This is the ultimate proof of two completely different personalities.

Giuseppe Rosselli