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Raphael
(1483-1520)
"When he died, the heavens wanted to give one of the signs they gave when Jesus Christ expired... Here, people are talking about nothing but the death of this exceptional man, who has completed his first life at the young age of 37. His second life - that of his fame, which is subject neither to time nor death - will endure for all eternity..."
Pandolfo Pico della Mirandola to Duchess Isabella Gonzaga of Mantua on Raphael, 1521.
Raffaello Santi, known as Raphael, or Raphael of Urbino, was born in Urbino on Good Friday 6 April 1483, the son of Magia di Battista di Nicola Ciarla and Giovanni Santi di Pietro. His father was a painter and poet at the court of Frederico da Montefeltre, one of the most famous princes and art patrons of Early Renaissance Italy. Raphael's father was not an outstanding painter, though he was a man of good sense. Raphael started helping out in Santi's studio at a very early age. It is believed that Raphael learnt the fundamentals of art in his father's studio. But it is still unclear where Raphael received his training after this early period in his father's workshop, as Giovanni Santi died in 1494. According to his first biographer Vasari Raphael was apprenticed to Perugino, although there are no sources, which confirm that he worked with Perugino before 1500. Among Raphael's early works, we know about Baronci Altarpiece, which was commissioned in 1501. It was badly damaged in an earthquake in 1789 and only some of its sections survived and now are kept in different collections. All Raphael's surviving works from 1502 to 1504 show Perugino's influence, the most notable are Crucifixion (1502-1503), Coronation of the Virgin (c.1503-1504), Marriage of the Virgin (1504), St. George (c.1504), St. Michael (c.1503-1504), The Three Graces (c.1503-1504), Allegory (The Knight's Dream) (c.1503-1504), Madonna and Child (c.1503), Madonna Connestabile (c.1503-1504).
In 1504, Raphael moved to Florence, where he remained until 1508. These years were very important for his development. He studied works of Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo there, by which he was greatly influenced. Yet he proved, that his ability to adapt from others what was necessary to his own vision and to reject what was incompatible with it was faultless. In Florence he started his series of Maddonnas, whose charm has captured popular imagination ever since: Madonna del Granduca (c.1505), Madonna of the Meadow (1505 or 1506), Madonna with the Goldfinch (c.1506), La Belle Jardiniere (1507 or 1508). He created several portraits, which also had Leonardo's impact Portrait of Agnolo Doni (c.1506), Portrait of Maddalena Doni (c.1506), Portrait of a Lady with a Unicorn (1505-1506), Portrait of a Pregnant Wom.... |
