Raphael's authorship in the 'Expulsion of Heliodorus.' - interpretation of court painter Raphael's mural

Whatever the case may be, there is no doubt that the corporeality of these agents does not compromise their intrinsic essence. For the chorus shows us the intervention of divinity. However, there is nothing to indicate that the women of the chorus, unlike their serpentine sister, have insight into the divinity of what they show. Their acts of designation are in fact only "extensions" of the painter's pointing, his pole virtually continuing into their rising arms. The chorus thus becomes a kind of surrogate within the historical milieu for the contemporary figure of Raphael.

Let us review some of the self-referential moments in the Heliodorus. At left Julius II singles out and authorizes his court painter Raphael to recount the biblical story of Heliodorus. Accordingly, the painter confronts the viewer and points both to the historical scene as a whole and to the series of three kneeling women, who in their succession serve as a model for a beholder's unfolding experience of the events. The culminating moment of spectatorship is embodied in the serpentine woman, whose perception of the earthly appearance of the heavenly agents is informed by spiritual insight. Her viewing of this event seems to follow the lead of the chorus. But in its role as designator the chorus is only an extension of Raphael.

The figure of Raphael points toward the historical action that in terms of spatial location and source of illumination is part of his own immediate environment. And yet his pointing marks the exact juncture of the two maniere. What he designates is differentiated from his own milieu as the more fictional realm of theater. It is as if through the act of pointing the painter has transformed the naturalism of the representation. The juxtaposition of maniere is not a simple mark or signature of the painter but a differential index of the manipulation of representational norms. Somehow a fictionalized reality has been produced by the painter's work.

Work of Art

What is the character of this work? The serpentine woman's glance toward the miraculous appearance of the divine avengers is motivated by the lead of the chorus. But the chorus's designation is essentially an extension of the painter's own. It is therefore Raphael who implicitly shows her the action. Since "showing" necessitates that the one who shows is already familiar with what is being shown - that there is a prior familiarity - the figure of the painter must already "know" the biblical event. This means that Raphael has previously comprehended the event in a manner similar to the way that she is shown it and comes to see it herself: that is, in a synthetic mode of inner and outer seeing. Prior to his act of designation, Raphael has negotiated two distinct cognitive pathways of "vision": one exterior and perceptual, the other interior and intellective. This mediation of inner and outer "seeing" is the key to grasping the essential character of the painter's work.

Here we take note that, in singling out and authorizing Raphael to recount the biblical tale, Pope Julius II points downward to the middle of the painter's head. In early-sixteenth-century painting this gesture had decided significance.