raphael

    Raphael Santi was born and raised in Urbino. His earliest teacher was his father, Giovanni Santi, a court poet and painter to the duke of Urbino. It was he who taught Raphael the basic elements of art. It is also said that Raphael studied with Timoteo Viti while in Urbino.
     After his father died, about 1499, Raphael moved to Perugia in Umbria to assist and be taught by Pertigo Perugino. Perugino's influence is most vivid in Raphael's earlier pieces such as The Crusifiction and The Knight's Dream.
     In 1504, he moved to Florence where he studied with great artists like Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo and Fra Bartolommeo. These three artists taught Raphael their methods of representing the play of light and shade, anatomy and dramatic art. Their influence are evident in the five predella scenes including Agony in the Garden and Pieta. Compared to his earlier work, these paintings have a more fluent, more able feel to them as well as deeper interpretations. In Florence (1504-08) he made his self-portrait and the numerous Madonna paintings that are famous for their sweet expressions such as the Madonna del Granduca, which is one of his earlier Madonnas.
    Raphael moved from Florence to Rome in 1508 because Pope Julius III comissioned him to execute frescoes in the Vatican. He is completely responsible for painting the Stanza della Segnatura (1509-1511) in the Vatican in Rome. Two of the largest walls represent The School of Athens and Triumph of Religion. These paintings are great representations of what his style was: classical blended with Christian. Some historians believe that Raphael's works are "the clearest expression of the balance and harmony of the High Renaissance composition". After Pope Julius' death in 1513, Leo X increased Raphael's responsibilities and influence: Raphael became the head architect of Saint Peter's Basilica in 1514, he was appointed lead excavator of all antiquities in Rome in 1515, and he also devised the architecture and decorations for Chigi Chapel in the Church of Santa Maria del Popolo and in the Villa Farnesia.
   Other great achievements he accomplished while in Rome include the fact that he became the chief architect of the Vatican in 1514 and he designed ten tapestries for the Sistine Chapel that are now in the Victoria and Albert Museum in London. He also did other famous easel works including a portrait of Julius II.
    Raphael Santi died on his 37th birthday in 1520.