Posted on: July 3, 2014

Raphael Santi - biography and famous paintings of the artist, works - frescoes, paintings, architecture

(born in 1483 in Urbino, died in 1520 in Rome)

Italian painter, architect and graphic artist of the Renaissance. His works, as well as those of his older contemporaries Leonardo and Michelangelo, defined the style of the High Renaissance in central Italy.

Ten most famous paintings by Raphael

Rafaello Sanzio da Urbino, known as Raphael, was one of the three great masters of High Renaissance art, along with Michelangelo and Leonardo da Vinci. He was a master of the realistic portrayal of emotions that brought his paintings to life. Raphael is considered an artist with a perfect balance, and many of his paintings are the cornerstones of Renaissance art. Below are ten of the most famous paintings by this great Italian artist.

10. "The Betrothal of the Virgin Mary" (Lo Sposalizio)

Year: 1504

The Betrothal of the Virgin Mary, based on a painting by Raphael's teacher Pietro Perugino with the same plot, depicts the marriage ceremony between Mary and Joseph. Through this picture, in which he surpasses his teacher, one can see the developing style of Raphael. The temple in the background "is drawn in perspective with such obvious care that it is surprising to see the complexities of the problems that he set himself here to solve."

9. "Saint George and the Dragon"

Year: 1506

This painting, depicting the famous legend of St. George slaying the dragon, is perhaps the most famous work on this subject. It was one of the most popular paintings in the Imperial Hermitage for a century and a half before finding its way to the National Gallery of Art in Washington, DC, where it remains one of the main attractions.

8. "Donna Velata"

Year: 1515

The famous portrait of Raphael "Donna Velata" emphasizes the artist's amazing ability to paint such exquisite perfections that the viewer seems to be looking not at a picture, but at a real person. The woman's clothes in the painting showcase Raphael's attention to detail, which brings the painting to life. The plot is Rafael's mistress Margarita Luti. Little is known about her, and it is thanks to this that the picture became famous.

7. "Dispute (" Dispute about Holy Communion ",LaDisputaDelSacramento)»

Year: 1510

5. "Triumph of Galatea"

Year: 1514

In Greek mythology, the beautiful nereid (sea nymph) Galatea is the daughter of Poseidon. She had the misfortune of marrying the envious one-eyed giant Polyphemus, who killed the peasant shepherd Kiss after learning that Galatea had fallen in love with him. Instead of the events of this story, Raphael painted a scene of the apotheosis of Galatea (exaltation to deity). The Triumph of Galatea is perhaps unparalleled in its ability to evoke the spirit of antiquity and is considered one of the finest paintings of the Renaissance.

4. "Beautiful gardener"

Year: 1507

At one time, the source of Raphael's popularity was not his large works, but the numerous small paintings that he wrote about the Madonna and Christ. They are still very popular even today, and the most famous of them is La belle jardinière (The Beautiful Gardener). The painting, which shows the Madonna with a calm face in an informal pose with Christ and the young John the Baptist, became a typical example of Raphael's work.

3. "Transfiguration of the Lord"

Year: 1520

"The Transfiguration of the Lord" is the last painting created by Raphael. It consists of two separate parts. The upper half of the picture shows the Transfiguration of Christ with the prophets Elijah and Moses on either side of it. At the bottom, the apostles unsuccessfully try to free the demon-possessed boy. The upper part also depicts the transformed Christ delivering the possessed boy from evil. The painting can be interpreted as depicting the contrast between god and man; the top is clean and symmetrical, while the bottom is dark and chaotic. For Napoleon, Raphael was simply the greatest of Italian artists, and the Transfiguration of Our Lord was his greatest work, Giorgio Vasari calls it “Raphael's most beautiful and most divine” work.

2. "Sistine Madonna"

Year: 1512

The Sistine Madonna depicts the Madonna holding the infant Christ and Saint Sixtus and Saint Barbara at the sides. Also under Mary are two winged cherubim, which are perhaps the most famous cherubim depicted in any painting. Such popularity stems from the many legends about how Raphael painted them, and the use of their image on everything from paper napkins to umbrellas. Many well-known critics consider "The Sistine Madonna" one of the best paintings, she is especially popular in Germany, where she was "called" the greatest among the world's paintings "and was given the epithet" divine ".

1. "School of Athens"

Year: 1511

Masterpiece Raphael The School of Athens is one of the four main frescoes on the walls of Raphael's Stanzas in the Apostolic Palace in the Vatican. Four paintings represent Philosophy, Poetry, Theology and Law, where the "School of Athens" represents Philosophy. Critics believe that any great ancient Greek philosopher can be found among the twenty-one painted in the picture. However, apart from Plato and Aristotle, who are in the center of the scene, no personality can be confirmed with certainty. The School of Athens is considered “the perfect embodiment of the classic spirit of the High Renaissance” and the most famous painting by Rafaello Sanzio da Urbino.

His father, Giovanni Santi, was a painter at the court of Federico da Montefeltro, Duke of Urbino, and undoubtedly taught Raphael the basic techniques. Giovanni was an educated person and knowledgeable about contemporary artists of the time. He preferred Mantegna, Leonardo, Signorelli, Giovanni Bellini and Pietro Perugino, but he was also impressed by the Flemish painters Jan van Eyck and Rogier van der Weyden. Giovanni died when his son was 11 years old. Raphael's mother allegedly took care of her young son herself instead of sending him to a nanny. The close relationship with his parents mentioned by his contemporaries was the reason for his gentle nature. He may have been gentle, but he was also extremely talented, which was tantamount to his aspirations.

Early career in Umbria

Early in his career, Raphael worked in various locations in Umbria and Tuscany. From 1504 to 1508 he worked a lot in Florence, and this time is usually called his Florentine period, although he never stayed permanently in this city.

Although, according to Vasari's description, Raphael becomes a student Perugino before his father's death, probably fiction. He undoubtedly worked in one capacity or another in the studio of a senior artist in his youth. During this period, Perugino was one of the most revered and influential painters working in Italy. Raphael's acquaintance with Perugino's style, both in style and technique, is evident from the altarpieces he painted for a church in his native Umbria, such as The Crucifixion (c. 1503; National Gallery, London) and The Crowning Virgin Mary "(c. 1503; Pinakothek, Vatican).

The early paintings contain many of Perugino's characteristic features: the slender physique of the figures, whose grace is often emphasized by ballet poses; gentleness of facial expressions; and the formality of a landscape backdrop filled with trees with incredibly thin trunks. That he was soon completely ahead of Perugino is best seen when comparing Raphael's painting The Betrothal of the Virgin Mary (1504; Pinacoteca Brera, Milan) with Perugino's work on the same theme (Museum of Fine Arts, Caen). Both compositions are similar in many ways, but Raphael is vastly superior to Perugino in grace and transparency.

Raphael was clearly gifted, as is evident from the conversion of Pinturicchio, at the time one of the leading painters in Italy. Raphael provided detailed compositional drawings, of which two survive (1502-03, Uffizi Gallery, Florence; Morgan Library and Museum, New York), for a fresco in the Piccolomini Library in Siena.

"The Mond Crucifixion" (1502-1503), in the picture you can feel the style of Perugino.

Saint George and the Dragon, small work (29 x 21 cm) for the courtyard of Urbino.

Florentine period

Despite his success as a painter of altarpieces and small paintings for the court, such as The Knight's Dream (c. 1504, National Gallery, London) and St. Michael and the Dragon (c. 1504, Louvre, Paris ). Raphael was clearly aware of the need to leave Umbria in order to expand his experience of modern painting. He armed himself with a letter of introduction dated October 1504 from the daughter-in-law of the Duke Giovanna della Rovere to Piero Soderini, ruler of Florence, and probably soon arrived in the city.

Many of his most famous depictions of the Virgin Mary and the infant Christ belong to the Florentine period. In these and in the paintings of the Holy Family, he showed his evolving mastery of composition and expression. In paintings with the Virgin Mary and the Christ Child, he experimented with new compositional forms and figurative motifs. In Madonna in the Greens (1506, Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna) and The Beautiful Gardener (1507, Louvre, Paris) Raphael uses a pyramidal structure borrowed from Leonardo, while the diagonal movement in Madonna Bridgewater ”(c. 1507, on loan from the National Gallery of Scotland, Edinburgh) was inspired by the sculptural figure by Michelangelo Taddei Tondo (1505-06, Royal Academy of Arts, London). In Raphael's painting The Holy Family of Canigiani (c. 1507, Alte Pinakothek, Munich), the spiraling movement and complex psychological relationship between figures (c. 1507, Alte Pinakothek, Munich) reflect his newfound dominance over modern Florentine style, at least in compositions of relative simplicity.

The Madonna of the Pinks, painted between 1506 and 1507, National Gallery, London.

The Ansidei Madonna approx. 1505 Raphael begins his departure from the style of Perugino.

The Madonna of the Meadow approx. 1506, uses Leonardo's pyramidal composition for the figures of the Holy Family.

Saint Catherine of Alexandria, 1507, the artist borrowed the pose from Leda Leonardo.

During this period, Raphael completed three large altarpieces: Madonna of Anside, Entombment, both commissioned by customers from Perugia, and Madonna of Baldacchino in the chapel of Santo Spirito in the Florentine church. One of his final paintings of the Florentine period, the magnificent St Catherine, is now in the National Gallery in London. In Florence, Raphael also painted several portraits, the most confirmed of which are those of Agnolo Doni and Maddalena Doni (1507-08, Palazzo Pitti, Florence).

Raphael in Rome

In 1508, Raphael was summoned to Rome by Pope Julius II. He was to remain in the city working for subsequent popes until his death. His first commission was for the decoration of the Stanza della Señatura, a room located on the top floor of the Vatican Palace and which was almost certainly used by the Pope as a library. In this and other rooms of the papal apartments, there were already works by Piero della Francesca, Perugino and Luca Signorelli, but the pope decided that these works should be donated in order to place the frescoes of the young artist.

Stanza della Senyatura contains some of the artist's most famous works, including The School of Athens, Parnassus, and Dispute. The purpose of the room is reflected in the plots of the fresco on the ceiling - theology, poetry, philosophy and law, which correspond to the classification of books according to disciplines. Raphael's frescoes show the genius of finding simple pictorial means to convey these complex abstract concepts. In the most famous fresco, the School of Athens, a group of philosophers with Plato and Aristotle in the center are depicted in a stately arched building that probably reflects Bramante's plan for St. Peter's Basilica. The brooding figure of the philosopher, brought to the fore of the composition, is the first evidence of Raphael's exploration of the recently unveiled ceiling of the Sistine Chapel painted by Michelangelo. The various preparatory drawings associated with The Dispute, the first of the frescoes painted, show Raphael's meticulousness in the process of creating a harmonious composition in which the mass of figures is divided into smaller groups connected by gestures and posture. The two large lunettes above the windows depict Parnassus and Jurisprudence.

Deposition of Christ, 1507, based on Roman sarcophagi.

The frescoes of Stanza della Señatura were completed by 1512 and he soon began work on the Stanza d'Eliodoro, which was completed within two years. The theme of this room was divine intervention in the defense of the Church: "The Expulsion of Eliodorus from the Temple," "Mass at Bolsen," "The Meeting of Leo the Great and Attila," and "The Liberation of St. Peter." These plots gave Raphael more opportunities for dynamic composition and gestures.

Michelangelo's Sistine Chapel also had a significant influence. Compositional unity in The Expulsion of Eliodorus is achieved by a balance of emotional and expressive contrasts. The differences between these two rooms are characterized by the drama of the two main frescoes, The Expulsion of Eliodorus and The Meeting of Leo the Great and Attila, which require scenes of intense activity. Pope Julius did not live to see their completion, and The Meeting of Leo the Great and Attila used the traits of Leo X for his belligerent predecessor. These frescoes and The Liberation of Saint Peter brilliantly demonstrate the dramatic possibilities of unusual light sources, and testify to the origins of detail in the work of Raphael, which is distinguished from the grandeur and purity of the Athenian school.

The Mass at Bolsena, 1514, Stanza di Eliodoro.

Deliverance of Saint Peter, 1514, Stanza di Eliodoro.

The Fire in the Borgo, 1514, Stanza dell "incendio del Borgo", painted by Raphael's artists from his drawings.

Pope Leo X continued the decoration program, so Stanza del Inchendio di Borgo was painted between 1514 and 1517. The pressure of Raphael's growing orders meant that most of the painting was done by assistants from the workshop to his sketches. In the best scenes of The Fire in Borgo, after which the room was given a name, the flame is a minor element of the composition, but destruction is captured in the foreground through the various emotions of the fleeing crowd. During the preparation for the design of the largest room from the suite, Sala di Constantino, Raphael was almost dying, so the painting of the frescoes was mainly directed by Giulio Romano, and at least in part, guided by the master's drawings.

The Pope's other plans included the creation of ten tapestries with scenes from the Acts of the Apostles to be hung in the Sistine Chapel. Tapestries were woven in Brussels on cardboard, seven of which have survived (1515-1516, Victoria and Albert Museum, London). Since tapestry is sensitive to artistic constraints, Raphael made sure that the expressions and gestures of the figures in the compositions were bold and direct. The cardboards themselves were a bit of a disappointment visually because they were mostly worked on in Raphael's well-organized and highly productive workshop. It included such talented young artists as: Giulio Romano, Giovanni Francesco Penni, Perino del Vaga and ornamental masters such as Giovanni da Udine, whom Raphael commissioned to paint under his direction, and in some cases part of the sketches of large projects such as the Loggia of the Pope Leo X in the Apostolic Palace (1518-1519), which was decorated with stucco in the antique style, and the vault was painted with ornaments and scenes from the Old Testament.

Throughout his stay in the Vatican, Raphael managed to work on other orders. These include the main altarpieces, the earliest of which Madonna di Foligno (c. 1512, Pinacoteca, Vatican) was painted for the Franciscan church of Santa Maria in Aracheli. Venetian elements in painting, such as the shimmering landscape and superb subtlety in colors, are possibly related to Raphael's acquaintance with Sebastiano del Piombo at this time. Also typical Venetian style is seen in the unique handling of pastels and the choice of blue paper for the sketch of the Madonna and Child (British Museum, London). In the most famous of all his altarpieces, the fantastic Sistine Madonna (1513-1514, Gallery of Old Masters, Dresden), painted for the church in Piacenza, the Virgin Mary and the Christ Child seem to float out of the picture. The images of the Virgin and the baby seem to be as weightless as the clouds on which they stand, at the same time they convey a strong sense of materiality. In the same period, Raphael painted the altarpiece of Saint Cecilia for a church in Bologna (c. 1514, National Pinacoteca, Bologna), which introduced the ideal of classical beauty that inspired the Emilian artists from Parmigianino to Reni.

Unlike Florence, in Rome, Raphael rarely had time to write small works on church themes, but he managed to complete two - Madonna Alba (c. 1511, National Gallery of Art, Washington) and Madonna della Sedia (c. . 1514, Palazzo Pitti, Florence). In both works, Raphael brilliantly uses their round shape (tondo). In the Washington painting, the round shape prompted significant diagonal body movements between the Virgin and the baby, while in a later painting he strongly encloses the figures, adding a sense of tender intimacy.

The Triumph of Galatea, 1512, is Raphael's only and main mythological work for Villa Chigi.

Raphael worked a lot for the wealthy Sienese banker Agostino Chigi, both on secular orders and on church orders. The earliest of these - the mythological fresco in the antique style "Triumph of Galatea", created for his villa on the banks of the Tiber, now known as "Farnesina". In 1513-1514. Raphael painted a fresco of sibyls and prophets on the entrance arch of the Chigi chapel in Santa Maria della Pace. The twisted position of the sibyls is written noticeably in the style of Michelangelo, but the images of the ideal feminine beauty are perhaps most tangible in Raphael's beautiful red pencil sketches (British Museum, London). A year or two later, he also provides blueprints for sculptures, architecture, and mosaics for Chigi's opulent chapel in Santa Maria del Popolo. In 1518 Raphael's workshop decorated the loggias at the Villa Chigi with scenes from the life of Cupid and Psyche. Giulio Romano and Giovanni Francesco Penni, who were responsible for the figurative part of the plan, interpreted Raphael's style so accurately that it is difficult to establish whether they or their master drew the sketches with the images for the loggia.

Raphael Loggias are magnificent in their architecture and concept. The architecture, fresco decoration and stucco work of the reliefs caused a sensation, recreating the decorative splendor of antiquity, which was so admired during the Renaissance.

Portraits

In portrait painting, the development of Raphael follows the same plan as in other genres. His early portraits recall Perugino while in Florence the main influence was Leonardo da Vinci's Mona Lisa, which can be seen in the portraits of Agnolo and Maddalena Doni. Raphael adapted Leonardo da Vinci's majestic design as early as 1514 in a portrait of Baldassare Castiglione (1514-1515, Louvre, Paris), who, like most of his best portraits, was his close friend. Castiglione is depicted with great psychological subtlety, a gentle, academic face ideally suited to the person who, in the treatise "On the courtier," defined the qualities of an ideal gentleman. The sophisticated sense of humor and courtesy depicted by Raphael actually returned exactly the qualities that Castiglione wanted to find in his ideal courtier. Other portraits from this period include those of his yearning patron Julius II (c. 1512, National Gallery, London), Tommaso Ingiri (Palazzo Pitti, Florence); and Pope Leo X with two cardinals (1518, Uffizi Gallery, Florence).

Portrait of Elisabetta Gonzaga, approx. 1504 year.

Portrait of Pope Julius II, approx. 1512 year.

Portrait of Bindo Altoviti, approx. 1514 year.

Portrait of Balthasar Castiglione, approx. 1515 year.

In the portrait of Julius II, the Pope is depicted sitting in an armchair diagonally to the plane of the painting, and this spatial separation from the viewer adds to the sitter's sense of self-absorption. The material feel of the contrasting textures of velvet and silk in the Pope's suit lends further dignity to the magnificent portrait of Leo X and his nephews. Raphael also painted portraits of a circle of friends: in addition to this portrait of Baldassare Castiglione, portraits of Andrea Navaggero and Agostino Beaziano (c. 1516, Galleria Doria Pamphilj, Rome), and an alleged self-portrait with a friend, often called “Raphael and his teacher of fencing "(1518, Louvre, Paris). These portraits attracted the active attention of the viewer, either because of the gaze of the model, as in Castiglione, or more immediacy, as in the case of the pointing hand of the fencing master. The model for Doni Valletta (c. 1516, Palazzo Pitti, Florence), one of the few female portraits of the Romanesque period, is unknown, but her hand gesture to the heart was appropriate for a marital portrait. Fornarina (c. 1518, National Gallery of Ancient Art, Rome) is a portrait of Raphael's so-called lover.

In his last altarpiece "Transfiguration" (1518-1520, Pinakothek, Vatican), originally planned for the Cathedral of Narbonne and completed by Giulio Romano, Raphael included two contrasting scenes - the transfiguration of Christ in bright light in the upper part, and below in the dark the apostles that cannot cure the possessed boy. The expressive faces and the overall dark tone are defined by Leonardo's unfinished painting The Adoration of the Magi (1481, Uffizi Gallery, Florence).

The Miraculous Draft of Fishes, 1515, one of seven surviving tapestry boards by Raphael.

The Way of the Cross (Il Spasimo) of 1517 brought a new degree of expressiveness to his art.

Other works and achievements

Raphael was quick to see the value of engraving in spreading his work, and through his collaboration with the Bolognese master of reproductive prints, Marcantonio Raimondi, his reputation and influence spread throughout Europe. It seems that Raphael gave him drawings, mainly related to his painted projects, but also some of Raymondi's more complex plates - for example, The Massacre of the Babies and The Miracle in Phrygia - were probably made from drawings specially designed for this purpose. ...

Sketch of soldiers for the painting "The Resurrection of Jesus Christ", approx. 1500 year.

Red pencil sketch of the Three Graces for Villa Farnesina.

Italy has given the world a huge number of great artists, architects and graphic artists. Among them, Rafael Santi shines brightly. An architect known to the modern world, the artist left a rich heritage that surprises and delights true connoisseurs of art.

Biography

Various sources claim the birth of Raphael on March 26 or 28, 1483. According to others, April 6 is the artist's birthday and death. Whom to believe? Decide for yourself. The only known city is the birthplace of Rafael Santi: Urbino.

Childhood was overshadowed by the death of Margie Charl, the mother of the future artist. His father, Giovanni Santi, had to leave for his wife in 1894.

The first years of Rafael Santi's life with bright paint left strokes on the boy's mind, his preferences. The reason for this influence of the surrounding world was the birth in the family of a court artist who worked under the Duke of Urbinsky. Here the young artist managed to take his first creative steps. The earliest work of the master of painting is considered the fresco "Madonna and Child", which has been kept in the house-museum for many years.

There are few results of creative research, independent search for the way. Among the first were works by Rafael Santi for the church of Sant'Agostino, located in Citta di Castello:

• "Banner with the image of the Holy Trinity" (about 1499-1500)
• image for the altar “Coronation of St. Nicholas of Tolentino "(1500-1501)

1501 The young artist decides to continue his studies with Pietro Perugino, who lived and worked in Perugia. The influence of the master made adjustments to the work of Raphael Santi.

This period Santi is filled with visits to Urbino, Citta di Castello, accompanying the teacher to Siena.

1504 There was an acquaintance with Baldassar Castiglione, after which there was a move to Florence, where Rafael Santi lived for several years. Acquainted with Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci, other great Italian artists of this period, Santi gets acquainted with the technique of recognized geniuses, learns, absorbing knowledge and skills like a sponge. The thoughts of the young artist were absorbed by his studies, work on new paintings.

Rafael Santi's drawings were not completely absorbed. The second passion was architecture. The artist learned a lot from his mentors, who happily shared their experience and knowledge. Rafael Santi's achievements astonished them.

Later he was introduced to Bramante. Gradually acquiring acquaintances with outstanding people, the artist-architect improves his technique, and his popularity gradually grows.

Eleven months later, Santi decides to change the situation, moves to Rome. With the help of Bramante, the young creator manages to take the place of the official artist of the Pope's palace.

Italian artists did not stop at one art form. Perhaps they were the ones who turned the postulate into reality: truly talented people will show off talents in various fields. Raphael spent a lot of time doing poetic research, creating sonnets dedicated to his beloved.

Raphael Santi's biography includes marriage. At the age of 31, the famous artist fell in love with the baker's daughter, so he proposed marriage. The girl agreed, becoming a faithful wife until the artist's death.

According to the researchers, Raphael was interested in the architecture of the past. During excavations in Rome, a research architect contracted a special type of Roman fever that caused his death on April 6, 1520. The disease took away the 37-year-old genius, who in his short existence managed to leave a deep mark in various fields of art. The tomb of Raphael was adorned with an epitaph:

"Here lies the great Raphael, during his life nature was afraid to be defeated, and after his death she was afraid to die."

Creation

The master created the first works to order a church in 1499-1501. Perugia actually inspired the young artist to write on religious themes, creating altar paintings, small canvases. But most of all, Raphael Santi was inspired by the image of the Madonna.

Pictures with Madonna are the main line of the artist's work. They are presented at all stages of existence, revealing the soul of the creator to the viewer. All works, despite the unity of the plot, are individual.

By the age of twenty, the artist Rafael Santi is becoming popular. The young artist is approached to create the faces of saints such as St. Catherine of Alexandria "and others.

Raphael Santi: the most famous paintings

"Sistine Madonna", combining the unity of the mortal body, the Holy Spirit, birth, atonement for sins.

Raphael Santi - Sistine Madonna

"Three Graces". Depicts Love, Beauty and Innocence holding the apples of the Hesperides, embodying beauty that has the ability to save the world.

Rafael Santi - The Three Graces

"Madonna Conestabile" is an image filled with tenderness, pure spirituality, lyrics, harmony, love.

Raphael Santi - Madonna Conestabile

The School of Athens is a canvas that combines the images of famous philosophers and teachers of Greek culture. The artist amazed his contemporaries and descendants with the painting.

Raphael Santi - School of Athens

"Self-portrait". This is how Raphael saw himself (1506).

Raphael Santi - Self-portrait

"The Lady with the Unicorn" sings the beauty and miracle of the purity of the spirit and body.

Raphael Santi - The Lady with the Unicorn

"Transfiguration". The last masterpiece, an unfinished canvas, begun by the master shortly before his death. This picture stood at the head of the genius at the funeral.

Raphael Santi - Makeover

"Lovely gardener." An enchanting image of the Madonna, caring for the world, like a good gardener caring for an orchard.

Rafael Santi - The Beautiful Gardener

Donna Velata. A gentle image of a wife who lived with Raphael until her death and went to a monastery to remain faithful to her husband.

Rafael Santi - Donna Velata
Raphael Santi - The Betrothal of the Virgin Mary

"Madonna in an armchair", personifying beauty, purity of soul, joy of motherhood.

Raphael Santi - Madonna in the chair
Raphael Santi - Madonna in the Green

"Madonna with a Veil". A gentle, serene image that indicates family values, which are the main treasures given to people by the Creator.

Raphael Santi - Madonna of the Veil

"The Knight's Dream" is an image that contains the eternal choice between pleasure and virtue.

Raphael Santi - The Knight's Dream

"Madonna Alba", belonging for a long time to the Spanish family of the same name and embodying the unity of soul, body and Spirit, knowledge of the future path, readiness to follow it.

Rafael Santi - Madonna Alba Category

The great Italian painter was born in 1483 in Urbino. His father was also a painter and graphic artist, so the future master began his studies in his father's workshop.

Raphael's parents died when the boy was barely 11 years old. After their death, he went to Perugia to study at the workshop of Pietro Perugino. He spent about 4 years in the master's workshop and during this time he acquired his own style.

Carier start

According to the short biography of Raphael Santi, after completing his studies, the artist went to live and work in Florence. Here he met such outstanding masters as Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, Bartolomeo della Porta. He learned from these eminent masters the secrets of portraiture and sculpture.

In 1508, the artist moved to Rome and became the official painter of the papal court. He held this position both under Pope Julius II and under Pope Leo X. It was for the latter that Raphael painted the Sistine Chapel - the greatest masterpiece of the Renaissance.

In 1514 Raphael became the chief architect of St. Peter's Cathedral. He also did a lot of excavations in Rome, worked to order for numerous churches, painted portraits (though mostly portraits of friends), carried out especially significant private orders.

Retrospective of the artist's work: the Florentine period

The artist completed his first works in his father's workshop. The most striking example of the young artist's creativity is the Banner with the image of the Holy Trinity. This work is still in the house-museum in Urbino.

While studying with Pietro Perugino, Raphael began to work on images of his classical Madonnas. His most striking work from the period from 1501 to 1504 is "Madonna Conestabile".

The Florentine period is the most intense in the life of Raphael. He created at this time his recognized masterpieces, such as: "The Lady with the Unicorn", "The Holy Family", "St. Catherine of Alexandria ”.

Also during this period he painted Madonnas a lot. The Raphael Madonna is primarily a mother (most likely, the artist was greatly influenced by the early departure of his own mother). The best Madonnas of this period: "Madonna of the Carnation", "Madonna Granduca", "The Beautiful Gardener".

Retrospective of the artist's work: the Roman period

The Roman period of creativity is the pinnacle of the artist's career. He deviated a little from classical biblical subjects and turned to Antiquity. Recognized world masterpieces are: "School of Athens", "Parnassus", "Sistine Madonna" (painting on the wall of the Sistine Chapel - the pinnacle of Raphael's skill), "Madonna Alba", "Madonna with the Fish".

Death of the artist

Raphael died in 1520, presumably from a Roman fever, which he "caught" during excavations. Buried in the Pantheon.

Other biography options

• Raphael knew A. Durer. It is known that the latter gave Raphael his self-portrait, but his fate is still unknown.
• Villa Farnesina is a special stage in the artist's work. We can say that he first turns to ancient mythology and historical painting. This is how the frescoes "Triumph of Galatea" and "The Wedding of Alexander and Roxanne" appear. It is interesting that Raphael also wrote from a nude. His best work in this regard is Fornarina (it is believed that most of the female portraits made by the artist were copied from his model and beloved Fornarina, whose fate is little known).
• Raphael wrote beautiful sonnets, mostly dedicated to the love of women.
• In 2002, one of Raphael's graphic works was sold at Sotheby's for a record amount for this type of work - £ 30 million.

Raphael (Rafaello Santi) (1483 - 1520) - artist (painter, graphic artist), architect of the High Renaissance.

Raphael Santi biography

In 1500 he moved to Perugia and entered the Perugino studio to study painting. At the same time, Raphael performed the first independent works: the skills and abilities taken over from his father affected. The most successful of his early works - "Madonna Conestabile" (1502-1503), "The Knight's Dream", "St. George" (both 1504)

Feeling like an accomplished artist, Raphael left his teacher in 1504 and moved to Florence. Here he worked hard to create the image of the Madonna, to whom he dedicated no less than ten works (Madonna with the Goldfinch, 1506-1507; The Entombment, 1507, etc.).

At the end of 1508, Pope Julius II invited Raphael to move to Rome, where the artist spent the final period of his short life. At the Pope's court, he was promoted to "painter of the Apostolic See". The main place in his work is now occupied by the murals of the ceremonial chambers (stanzas) of the Vatican Palace.

In Rome, Raphael achieved perfection as a portrait painter and acquired the opportunity to realize his talent as an architect: from 1514 he supervised the construction of St. Peter's Cathedral.

In 1515 he was appointed commissioner for antiquities, which meant the study and protection of ancient monuments and control over excavations.

The most famous of Raphael's works, The Sistine Madonna (1515-1519), was also written in Rome. In the last years of his life, the popular artist was so loaded with orders that he had to delegate their execution to students, limiting himself to drawing up sketches and general control over the work.
He died on April 6, 1520 in Rome.

The tragedy of the brilliant master was that he could not leave behind worthy successors.

However, the work of Raphael had a huge impact on the development of world painting.

Art by Raphael Santi

The idea of ​​the brightest and most lofty ideals of humanism of the Renaissance was most fully embodied in his work by Raphael Santi (1483-1520). The younger contemporary of Leonardo, who lived a short, extremely eventful life, Raphael synthesized the achievements of his predecessors and created his ideal of a beautiful, harmoniously developed person surrounded by stately architecture or landscape.

As a seventeen-year-old boy, he reveals real creative maturity, creating a series of images full of harmony and spiritual clarity.

Delicate lyricism and subtle spirituality distinguish one of his early works - "Madonna Conestabile" (1502, St. Petersburg, Hermitage), an enlightened image of a young mother depicted against the background of a transparent Umbrian landscape. The ability to freely arrange figures in space, to connect them with each other and with the environment is also manifested in the composition "The Betrothal of Mary" (1504, Milan, Brera Gallery). The spaciousness in the construction of the landscape, the harmony of forms of architecture, the poise and integrity of all parts of the composition testify to the formation of Raphael as a master of the High Renaissance.

With his arrival in Florence, Raphael easily absorbs the most important achievements of the artists of the Florentine school with its pronounced plastic beginning and wide coverage of reality.

The content of his art remains the lyrical theme of bright motherly love, to which he attaches special significance. She gets a more mature expression in such works as "Madonna in the Green" (1505, Vienna, Kunsthistorisches Museum), "Madonna with a Goldfinch" (Florence, Uffizi), "The Beautiful Gardener" (1507, Paris, Louvre). Essentially, they all vary the same type of composition, composed of the figures of Mary, the infant Christ and the Baptist, forming pyramidal groups against the background of a beautiful rural landscape in the spirit of compositional techniques found earlier by Leonardo. The naturalness of the movements, the soft plasticity of the forms, the smoothness of the melodious lines, the beauty of the ideal type of the Madonna, the clarity and purity of landscape backgrounds help to reveal the sublime poetry of the figurative structure of these compositions.

In 1508, Raphael was invited to work in Rome, to the court of Pope Julius II, a domineering, ambitious and energetic man who sought to increase the artistic treasures of his capital and attract the most talented cultural figures of that time to his service. At the beginning of the 16th century, Rome inspired hopes for the national unification of the country. The ideals of the national order have created the basis for a creative upsurge, for the embodiment of advanced aspirations in art. Here, in close proximity to the heritage of antiquity, Raphael's talent flourishes and matures, acquiring a new scope and features of calm grandeur.

Raphael receives an order to paint the ceremonial rooms (the so-called stanzas) of the Vatican Palace. This work, which continued intermittently from 1509 to 1517, nominated Raphael among the greatest masters of Italian monumental art, confidently solving the problem of the synthesis of architecture and painting of the Renaissance.

The gift of Raphael, a monumentalist and decorator, manifested itself in all its brilliance during the painting of the Station della Senyatura (the press room).

On the long walls of this room, covered with sailing vaults, there are compositions "Dispute" and "School of Athens", on the narrow walls - "Parnassus" and "Wisdom, Moderation and Strength", personifying the four areas of human spiritual activity: theology, philosophy, poetry and jurisprudence ... The vault, divided into four parts, is decorated with allegorical figures that form a single decorative system with wall paintings. Thus, the entire space of the room was filled with painting.

Dispute School of Athens Adam and Eve

The unification of the images of the Christian religion and pagan mythology in the murals testified to the spread among the humanists of that time of the ideas of reconciling the Christian religion with ancient culture and of the unconditional victory of the secular principle over the church. Even in the "Dispute" (the dispute of the church fathers about the sacrament), dedicated to the depiction of church leaders, among the participants in the dispute, one can recognize the poets and artists of Italy - Dante, Fra Beato Angelico and other painters and writers. The triumph of humanistic ideas in Renaissance art, its connection with antiquity, speaks of the composition "The School of Athens", glorifying the mind of a beautiful and strong man, ancient science and philosophy.

The painting is perceived as the embodiment of the dream of a bright future.

From the depths of the suite of grandiose arched spans, a group of ancient thinkers emerges, in the center of which is the stately gray-bearded Plato and the confident, inspired Aristotle, with a gesture of his hand pointing to the ground, the founders of idealistic and materialist philosophy. Below, on the left by the stairs, Pythagoras bent over the book, surrounded by his students, on the right - Euclid, and here, at the very edge, Raphael depicted himself next to the painter Sodoma. This is a young man with a gentle, attractive face. All the characters in the fresco are united by the mood of high spiritual uplift and deep thought. They form groups, indissoluble in their integrity and harmony, where each character precisely takes its place and where architecture itself, in its strict regularity and majesty, contributes to the recreation of an atmosphere of high rise of creative thought.

The fresco "The Expulsion of Eliodor" in Stanza d'Eliodoro stands out for its intense drama. The suddenness of the happening miracle - the expulsion of the robber of the temple by the heavenly horseman - is conveyed by the swift diagonal of the main movement, using the light effect. Pope Julius II is depicted among spectators gazing at the expulsion of Eliodorus. This is an allusion to events contemporary to Raphael - the expulsion of French troops from the Papal States.

The Roman period of Raphael's work was marked by high achievements in the field of portraiture.

The characters of Mass in Bolsen (frescoes in Stanza d'Eliodoro) take on sharp-looking portrait features. Raphael also turned to the portrait genre in easel painting, showing his originality here, revealing the most characteristic and significant in the model. He painted portraits of Pope Julius II (1511, Florence, Uffizi), Pope Leo X with Cardinal Ludovico dei Rossi and Giulio dei Medici (circa 1518, ibid.) And other portrait paintings. An important place in his art continues to be occupied by the image of the Madonna, acquiring the features of great grandeur, monumentality, confidence, and strength. Such is the Madonna della Cedia (Madonna in the Chair, 1516, Florence, Pitti Gallery) with its harmonious, closed composition.

At the same time, Raphael created his greatest creation "Sistine Madonna"(1515-1519, Dresden, Picture Gallery), intended for the church of St. Sixtus in Piacenza. Unlike the earlier, lighter in mood, lyrical Madonnas, this is a stately image full of deep meaning. The curtains spread from the top on the sides reveal Mary easily walking on the clouds with the baby in her arms. Her gaze allows you to look into the world of her experiences. Seriously and sadly, she looks somewhere into the distance, as if anticipating the tragic fate of her son. To the left of the Madonna is Pope Sixtus, enthusiastically contemplating a miracle, to the right is Saint Barbara, reverently looking down. Below are two angels looking up and, as it were, returning us to the main image - the Madonna and her childishly pensive baby.

Impeccable harmony and dynamic balance of the composition, delicate rhythm of smooth linear outlines, naturalness and freedom of movement make up the irresistible power of this whole, beautiful image.

The truth of life and the features of the ideal are combined with the spiritual purity of the complex tragic character of the Sistine Madonna. Some researchers found its prototype in the features of "Ladies in a Veil" (about 1513, Florence, Pitti Gallery), but Raphael himself wrote in a letter to his friend Castiglione that his creative method is based on the principle of selection and generalization of life observations: to paint a beauty, I need to see many beauties, but due to the lack of ... in beautiful women, I use some idea that comes to my mind. " Thus, in reality, the artist finds features that correspond to his ideal, which rises above the accidental and transitory.

Raphael died at the age of thirty-seven, leaving unfinished murals of the Villa Farnezina, the Vatican Loggias and a number of other works, completed on cardboard and drawings by his students. Free, graceful, casual drawings by Raphael put their creator into the ranks of the largest draftsmen in the world. His work in the field of architecture and applied arts testifies to him as a versatile gifted figure of the High Renaissance, who won resounding fame among his contemporaries. The very name of Raphael later became the common name of the ideal artist.

Numerous Italian students and followers of Raphael elevated the teacher's creative method into an indisputable dogma, which contributed to the spread of imitation in Italian art and foreshadowed the imminent crisis of humanism.

• Rafael Santi was born into the family of a court poet and artist, and he himself was a favorite painter of those in power, feeling easily and comfortably in a secular society. Nevertheless, he was of low origin. He became an orphan from the age of 11, and his guardian has been suing his stepmother for years for family property.
• The famous painter painted "The Sistine Madonna" by order of the "black monks" - the Benedictines. He created his masterpiece on a huge canvas, alone, without the participation of students or assistants.
• The painting historian Vasari, and after him other biographers of Raphael, say that in the traits of many "Madonnas" the daughter of the baker Margarita Luti, known as Fornarina, is embodied. Some consider her to be a calculating lecher, others - an honest lover, because of whom the artist even refused to marry a woman of noble birth. But many art critics believe that all this is a romantic myth about love, and no one knows Raphael's true relationship with women.
• The artist's painting, entitled "Fornarina", depicting a model in a semi-nude form, became the object of passionate discussions among doctors. The bluish patch on the model's chest has led to speculations that the model had cancer.
• The same Vasari reports gossip that, being a papal painter, the artist actually did not believe in God or in devil. This is unlikely, although the statement of one of the popes of that time is quite well known: "How much profit this fairy tale about Christ brought us!"

Bibliography

• Toys Christophe. Raphael. Taschen. 2005
• Makhov A. Raphael. Young guard. 2011. (The life of wonderful people)
• Eliasberg N.E. Raphael. - M .: Art, 1961. - 56, p. - 20,000 copies. (region)
• Stam S. M. Raphael's Florentine Madonnas: (Questions of ideological content). - Saratov: Publishing house of Saratov University, 1982. - 80 p. - 60,000 copies

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Rafaello Sanzio da Urbino is an Italian painter and architect of the High Renaissance. His works are distinguished by the grace of forms, simplicity of composition and a subtle understanding of the humanism of the Renaissance.

Raphael was born in 1483 (the exact date of birth has not been established) in the city of Urbino. His father, Giovanni Santi, the court painter of the local duke, was a highly educated man; wrote poetry, was well versed in the history of the humanities; he managed to inspire and convey his love for art and delicate taste to his son.

Raphael lost his parents early - his mother died when the boy was eight, three years later his father passed away. At the age of eleven, he remained in the care of his stepmother (his father managed to marry a second time) and his uncle, a priest. In his youth, Raphael worked - according to various versions - in the workshops of outstanding Urbino artists - Pietro Perugino or Timoteo Viti. The first version seems more likely; mainly because the influence of Perugino is very well traced in the early works of Raphael. However, the works of the young artist of this period are not easy to distinguish from the paintings of his teacher because of the similarity of style and Raphael's desire to imitate the master in everything.

Raphael's first accurately documented work is Angel (1500 - 1501), an oil painting for the church of St. Nicholas of Tolentino. In subsequent years, Raphael worked actively, creating canvases and frescoes for churches and private collections. Among the paintings of this period are "The Crucifixion with the Virgin Mary, Saints and Angels", "The Betrothal of the Virgin Mary", frescoes for the Siena Cathedral.

Since 1504, the "Florentine period" begins in the work of Raphael, although there are no exact indications that the artist really lived in Florence at this time. Nevertheless, the art of northern Italy had a great influence on Raphael's creative style. This period includes such works as "Madonna in the Green", "St. Catherine of Alexandria", "Entombment".

In 1508, Raphael moved to Rome at the invitation of Pope Julius II, where he remained until the end of his life. The most famous and large-scale project of the painter of this time - "Raphael's Stanzas", rooms in the papal palace in the Vatican, which the artist decorated with his frescoes. The painting of the palace took most of the painter's time, but at this time he creates several masterpieces that are destined to gain worldwide fame - "Triumph of Galatea", "Way of the Cross", "Holy Family".

Raphael died on April 6, 1520. The reasons for his death remain unknown. The inscription on his grave reads: “Raphael rests here; alive, he became a worthy rival of Nature itself; dying, she mourned him, fearing that now she would perish ”.

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