We are truly glad to introduce the first ring for men we add to our Vintage Collection, the reproduction of a vintage piece that was worn by Cardinal Bernardo Dovizi in this superb Raphael’s painting.
This classic and restrained composition is a great portrait, a master piece where we can see the Cardinal seated with his robes and grabbing a goblet in silver in his right hand.
I’m sure you didn’t miss the bright of the red silk and the texture in his robes. It’s just amazing. His deep-looking face shows a minor gesture with his mouth like telling you “I’m superior”.
Well, this Cardinal is wearing three rings, all of them will arrive this month to our vintage space.
Dovizi was the Pope Leon X secretary for a while and later he became the representant in France. It was around this time when he posed for one of the big masters of the Italian Rennaissance.
Cardinal Bernardo Dovizi was extremely inteligent and a brilliant humanist in his time, with a special taste for Literature. He even was the author of “The Calandria”.
Since he was a close friend to Raphael, he not only ordered this portrait to the artista but the decoration of the most beautiful and symbolic rooms in the Vatican.
For this project, Raphael counted on the help of one of his outstanding disciples: Giovanni de Udine. It was 1519 back then.
Giovanni had successfully used the technique with stucco, he even made up his own system with lime of Travertino. His master Raphael loved this discovery so he decided to count on him to decorate the three rooms in the Vatican: the stufetta (bathroom), the Loggetta and the Loggia.
Cardinal’s stufetta is particularly shocking: the decoration is a bit too much intimate and even erotic. The theme is the life of Venus and her relationship with the rest of the gods, a matter too erotic for the time, so they finally decided to cover the stuffeta with wood and make of it a little chapel.
Cardinal Bernardo was so happy with the result of the paintings that he decided to marry Raphael to his niece Mary, however this was not possible since he died before the ceremony.
And today we want to inmortalize part of Raphael’s work with this simple and classical piece of jewelry.
Bibliography:
Turismo-toscana.blogspot.com.es
Images. @María López-Linares Vintage Photography