RENAISSANCE MAN RAPHAEL'S ARTISTIC IMPACT THE HIGHLIGHT OF NEW GETTY EXHIBIT.

Byline: Fred Shuster Staff Writer

If you look beneath the surface at certain art exhibits, you can learn something a little surprising about the artist. Even if the work is 500 years old.

For example, Michelangelo didn't play nicely with other High Renaissance artists.

Raphael, however, did.

That becomes clear while wandering through ``Raphael and His Circle: Drawings From Windsor Castle,'' the J. Paul Getty Museum's new exhibition of drawings showing Raphael's art and influence.

Unlike Michelangelo, a solitary introvert who guarded his work drawings from outsiders, Raphael (1483-1520) kept his work sheets at hand for the education and pleasure of his entourage.

``It was a matter of temperament,'' explained Raphael-expert Martin Clayton, who wrote the 224-page catalog for the exhibit. ``Raphael would work with others. Michelangelo worked on his own and took ages to finish a portrait. Raphael worked quickly and was in competition with Michelangelo.''

Of the 66 drawings on loan to the Getty from Queen Elizabeth II, 25 are from Raphael's own hand while others are works by earlier artists who influenced Raphael and by assistants who spread interpretations of his work throughout Italy.

Sheets range from a study for an altarpiece, commissioned when Raphael was not yet 20, to drawings for the great projects executed at the height of his fame in Rome. A special section of the gallery is devoted to the making of the ``Disputa,'' the monumental fresco commissioned by Pope Julius II for the Vatican Palace's papal library, now known as the ``Stanza della Segnatura,'' where the pope's supreme tribunal convened.

``The artists would fall about laughing if they could see the fuss we're making hanging their work drawings at the Getty,'' Clayton said.

A pivotal artist of the Italian Renaissance, Raphael had a remarkable capacity to absorb influences, a superb sense of grace and harmony, and the organizational ability to execute large-scale commissions with a team of artists.

Other exhibition highlights include ``The Massacre of the Innocents'' (circa 1510) and ``The Three Graces'' (1517-18), a study of a single model in three consecutive poses.

Also on view at the Getty is a concurrent exhibit, ``Raphael and His Influence Across the Centuries,'' focusing on 31 drawings from the museum's own collection illustrating Raphael's impact on his contemporaries and later artists.

``His impact on succeeding generations is captured here in the drawings of his most gifted workshop assistants and the work of painters ceaselessly drawn to Raphael's oeuvre throughout the centuries,'' said Allegra Pesenti, who curated the secondary exhibit.

``RAPHAEL AND HIS CIRCLE: DRAWINGS FROM WINDSOR CASTLE''

What: This international traveling exhibition on loan from Queen Elizabeth II celebrates Raphael as one of Western art's most influential figures.

``RAPHAEL AND HIS INFLUENCE ACROSS THE CENTURIES''

What: Drawings from the Getty's own collection focusing on Raphael's impact on his contemporaries and on artists from subsequent generations.

Where: J. Paul Getty Museum, 1200 Getty Center Drive, Los Angeles.

When: 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday and Sunday, 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Tuesday and Wednesday, 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Thursday and Friday; closed Mondays and major holidays. Through Jan. 7.

Tickets: Admission is free. Parking is $5 per car. No parking reservations needed Saturdays and Sundays or after 4 p.m. Thursdays and Fridays.

Information: [phone].

CAPTION(S):

6 photos

Photo:

(1 -- color) Nicolas Poussin used pen and brown ink and wash in ``Appollo and the Muses on Mount Parnassus.''

(2 -- 3 -- color) Raphael's ``Poetry (1509-10), above, and ``The Three Graces'' (1517-18), right, features muscular sketches of the artist's models in black and red chalk. In its newest exhibit, `'Raphael and His Circle: Drawings From Windsor Castle,'' the Getty presents 66 drawings on loan from Queen Elizabeth II. The works are on view through Jan. 7, 2001.

(4 -- color) A special section of the gallery accommodates Raphael's grand and colorful fresco ``Disputa,'' which he made for the Vatican Palace's papal library after being commissioned by Pope Julius II.

(5 -- 6 -- color) Both ``The Massacre of the Innocents'' (1510), above, and ``Saint Paul Rending His Garments'' (1483-1520), right, depict Raphael's great understanding of the human body in motion.