Raphael (28 March 1483-6 April 1520) was an Italian painter and architect of the High Renaissance. Its simplicity and ease of composition have made his work admired around the world. He is a great example of the neoplatonic ideal of human grandeur.
EARLY LIFE
He was born on 28 March 1483 in Italy. He was the son of Giovanni Santi, a court painter. His mother died when he was 8. His father died in 1494. He lived with his paternal uncle was a priest. In Urbino, he saw works by Paolo Uccello, the court painter, and Luca Signorelli.
According to Vasari, Raphael’s father put him in Pietro Perugino’s workshop in Umbria as a young apprentice. It was very early for him to start an apprenticeship at eight years old. Raphael worked as Perugino’s assistant around 1500.
Many art historians believe that they can spot his hand in specific areas of Perugino’s work or his workshop, but Vasari said it was impossible to tell their hands apart at that time. They’re not just stylistically similar, but they also have the same techniques as using an oil varnish medium, having paint applied thickly in shadows and darker clothes, but very thinly on flesh.
Raphael was a highly trained painter by December 1500 and described as a “master”.
In the town of Città di Castello, between Perugia and Urbino, he painted the Baronci altarpiece for the church of Saint Nicholas of Tolentino.
When Duke Federico da Montefeltro was in charge of Urbino, the city became a cultural hub, drawing men of great talent like Donato Bramante, Piero della Francesca, and Leon Battista Alberti to his court.
Over the next few years, he painted for other churches in Perugia, including the Oddi Altarpiece and the Mond Crucifixion (1503).
During these years, he also painted a lot of cabinet paintings, mostly for the connoisseurs at the Urbino court, like the Three Graces and St. Michael. He also began to paint Madonnas and portraits.
Michelangelo and Leonardo da Vinci’s works influenced him a lot. In addition to Leonardo, Michelangelo, and Fra Bartolomeo, who were high Renaissance masters, he also studied “the old things of Masaccio,” who was an early naturalist and a link to the Gothic.
Between 1505 and 1507 Raphael painted a lot, especially a series of Madonnas Like; The Madonna of the Goldfinch (1505), the Madonna del Prato (1505), the Madonna del Prato (1505–07), and La Belle Jardinière (1507), all of which were influenced by Leonardo, who had been making great innovations in painting since 1480.
In 1508, at the age of 25, he was invited to Pope Julius II’s court to redecorate the papal apartments. he became one of the greatest history painters in Rome after becoming a portrait artist there.
In 1514, when Bramante died, he was appointed architect of St. Peter’s.
DEATH
He died on 6 April 1520, in Rome.