Art Patronage and Reputation
A lover of fine arts and especially sculpture, Cardinal Riario’s artistic choices foreshadow the arrival of High Renaissance in Rome. His gigantic residence, influenced by the Florentine architecture, is the first building of the new monumental style which prevailed in the Holy City under Julius II. Riario is also credited for noticing the talent of the young Michelangelo. In 1496, the Sleeping Cupid was treacherously sold to him as an ancient piece: the aesthetic prelate discovered the cheat, but was so impressed by the quality of the sculpture that he invited the artist to Rome, where Michelangelo worked for the rest of his life.
Raffaele Riario is generally considered a prelate typical of his era: indifferent in religious matters, rather a statesman than a priest, rather a Maecenas than a theologian..
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Famous quotes containing the words art, patronage and/or reputation:
“To define it rudely but not inaptly, engineering ... is the art of doing that well with one dollar, which any bungler can do with two after a fashion.”
—Arthur Mellen Wellington (1847–1895)
“Each of the Arts whose office is to refine, purify, adorn, embellish and grace life is under the patronage of a Muse, no god being found worthy to preside over them.”
—Eliza Farnham (1815–1864)
“Character is like a tree and reputation like its shadow. The shadow is what we think of it; the tree is the real thing.”
—Abraham Lincoln (1809–1865)