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RAPHAEL SANZIO (1483–1520)

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Originally appearing in Volume V22, Page 909 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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RAPHAEL SANZIO (1483–1520)  , the See also:great See also:Italian painter, was the son of Giovanni Sanzio or Santi, a painter of some repute in the ducal See also:city of See also:Urbino, situated among the See also:Apennines on the See also:borders of See also:Tuscany and See also:Umbria.' For many years both before and after the See also:birth of See also:Raphael (6th of See also:April 1483) the city of Urbino was one of the See also:chief centres in See also:Italy of intel- ' See Pungileoni, Elogio Storico di Raffaello (Urbino, 1829) ; for a valuable See also:account of Raphael's See also:family and his See also:early See also:life, see also, Id., Vita di Giov . Santi (Urbino, 1822), and Campori, Notizie e Documenti per la Vita di Giov . Santi e di Raffaello (See also:Modena, 1870) . 2 See an interesting account of the See also:court of Urbino by See also:Delaborde, Etudes sur See also:les B . Arts . . . en Italie (See also:Paris, 1864), vol. i. p . 145 . 3 The See also:house of Giovanni Santi, where Raphael was See also:born, still exists at Urbino in the Contrada del See also:Monte, and, being the See also:property of the See also:municipality, is now safe from destruction . See the See also:Victoria See also:County See also:History, See also:Sussex, vol. i.; New See also:English i lectual and See also:artistic activity, thanks to its highly cultured rulers, See also:Dictionary; and M . A . See also:Lower, History of Sussex (See also:Lewes, 187o) . I See also:Duke Federigo II. of Montefeltro and his son Guidobaldo, who (G .

J . T.) succeeded him in 14.82 ,2 the See also:

year before Raphael was born . Giovanni Santi was a welcome See also:guest at this See also:miniature but splendid court, and the See also:rich treasures which the See also:palace contained, See also:familiar to Raphael from his earliest years, were a very important See also:item among the various influences which formed and fostered his early love for See also:art . It may not perhaps be purely fanciful to trace Raphael's boyish admiration of the oil-paintings of See also:Jan See also:Van See also:Eyck and Justus of See also:Ghent in the miniature-like care and delicacy with which some of his earliest See also:works, such as the " See also:Apollo and See also:Marsyas," were executed . Though Raphael lost his See also:father at the See also:age of eleven, yet to him he certainly owed a great See also:part of that early training which enabled him to produce paintings of apparently mature beauty when he was scarcely twenty years of age . The See also:altar-piece painted by Giovanni for the See also:church of Gradara, and a See also:fresco, now preserved in the Santi house3 at Urbino, are clearly prototypes of some of Raphael's most graceful paintings of the Madonna and See also:Child . On the See also:death of his father in 1494 Raphael was See also:left in the care of his stepmother (his own See also:mother, Magia Ciarla, having died in 1491) and of his See also:uncle, a See also:priest called Bartolomeo.' First or Perugian See also:Period.—In what year Raphael was apprenticed to See also:Perugino and how the See also:interval before that was spent are matters of doubt . See also:Vasari's statement that he was sent to See also:Perugia during his father's lifetime is certainly a See also:mistake . On the whole it appears most probable that he did not enter Perugino's studio till the end of 1499, as during the four or five years before that Perugino was mostly absent from his native city.' The so-called See also:Sketch See also:Book of Raphael in the See also:academy of See also:Venice contains studies apparently from the cartoons of some of Perugino's Sistine frescoes, possibly done as practice in See also:drawing . This celebrated collection of See also:thirty drawings, now framed or preserved in portfolios, bears signs of having once formed a See also:bound book, and has been supposed to be a sketch-book filled by Raphael during his Perugian See also:apprenticeship . Many points, however, make this tempting See also:hypothesis very improbable; the fact that the drawings were not all originally on leaves of the same See also:size, and the See also:miscellaneous See also:character of the sketches—varying much both in See also:style and merit of See also:execution—seem to show that it is a collection of studies by different hands, made and bound together by some subsequent owner, and may contain but very few drawings by Raphael himself.' Before See also:long Raphael appears to have been admitted to See also:share in the execution of paintings by his See also:master; and his See also:touch can with more or less certainty be traced in some of Perugino's panels which were executed about 1502 . Many of those who, like See also:Crowe and Cavalcaselle, adopt the earlier date of Raphael's apprenticeship, believe that his See also:hand is visible in the execution of the beautiful See also:series of frescoes by Perugino in the See also:Sala del Cambio, dated 1500; as does also M .

Miintz in his excellent Raphael, sa See also:

vie, Paris, 1881, in spite of his accepting the end of 1499 as the period of Raphael's first entering Perugino's studio, —two statements almost impossible to reconcile . Considering that Raphael was barely seventeen when these frescoes were painted, it is hardly reasonable to attribute the finest heads to his hand; nor did he at an early age master the difficulties of fresco buono . The Resurrection of See also:Christ in the Vatican and the Diotalevi Madonna in the See also:Berlin Museum are the See also:principal pictures by Perugino in parts of which the touch of Raphael appears to be visible, though any real certainty on this point is unattainable.' About 1502 Raphael began to execute See also:independent works; four pictures for churches at Citta di See also:Castello were probably the earliest of these, and appear to have been painted in the years 15o2-4 . The first is a gild-banner painted on one See also:side with the Trinity, and below, kneeling figures of S . See also:Sebastian and S . Rocco; on the See also:reverse is a Creation of See also:Eve, very like Perugino in style, but possessing more See also:grace and breadth of treatment . These are still in the church of S . Trinita.' Also 1 The See also:administration of Giovanni Santi's will occasioned many painful family disputes and even appeals to See also:law; see Pungileoni, El . Stor. di Raffaello . 'Crowe and Cavalcaselle (Life of Raphael, vol. i., See also:London, 1882) adopt the notion that Raphael went to Perugia in 1495, but the reasons with which they support this view appear insufficient . See an excellent See also:critical examination of the Sketch Book by See also:Morelli, Italian Masters in See also:German Galleries, translated by Mrs See also:Richter (London, 1882); according to Morelli, only two drawings are by Raphael . Schmarsow, " Raphael's Skizzenbuch in Venedig,'° in Preussische Jahrbiicher, xlviii. pp .

122-149 (Berlin, 1881), takes the opposite view . But Kahl, Das venezianische Skizzenbuch (See also:

Leipzig, 1882), follows Morelli's See also:opinion, which has been generally adopted . Parts of Perugino's beautiful See also:triptych of the Madonna, with the archangels Raphael and See also:Michael, painted for the Certosa near See also:Pavia and now in the See also:National See also:Gallery of London, have been attributed to Raphael, but with little See also:reason . Perugino's See also:grand altar-piece at See also:Florence of the See also:Assumption of the Virgin shows that he was quite capable of See also:painting figures equal in beauty and delicacy to the St Michael of the Certosa triptych . See Frizzioni, L'Arte Italiana nella Gal . Nat. di Londra (Florence, i88o) . s For an account of processional See also:banners painted by distinguished artists, see Mariotti, Lettere pittoriche Perugine, p . 76 seq.for Citta di Castello were the See also:coronation of S . Niccolo See also:Tolentino, now destroyed, though studies for it exist at See also:Oxford and See also:Lille (Gaz. d . B . Arts, 1878, i. p . 48), and the Crucifixion, now in the See also:Dudley collection, painted for the church of S .

Domenico, and signed RAPHAEL VRBINAS P . It is a See also:

panel 8 ft.6 in. high by 5 ft . 5 in. wide, and contains See also:noble figures of the Virgin, St See also:John, St See also:Jerome and St See also:Mary Magdalene . The See also:fourth painting executed for this See also:town, for the church of S . See also:Francesco, is the exquisitely beautiful and highly finished Sposalizio, now in the Brera at See also:Milan, signed and dated RAPHAEL VRBINAS MDIIII . This is closely copied both in See also:composition and detail from Perugino's painting of the same subject now at See also:Caen, but is far See also:superior to it in sweetness of expression and grace of attitude . The See also:Temple of See also:Jerusalem, a domed octagon with See also:outer See also:ambulatory in Perugino's picture, is reproduced with slight alterations by Raphael, and the attitudes and grouping of the figures are almost exactly the same in both . The Connestabile Madonna is one of Raphael's finest works, painted during his Perugian period; it is a See also:round panel; the See also:motive, the Virgin See also:reading a book of See also:hours, is a favourite one with him, as it was with his father Giovanni . This lovely picture was lost to Perugia in 1871, when See also:Count Connestabile sold it to the See also:emperor of See also:Russia for £13,200 . Second or Florentine Period, zgo4-zgo8.- From 1504 to 15o8 Raphael's life was very stirring and active . In the first See also:half of 1504 he visited Urbino, where he painted two small panels for Duke Guidobaldo, the St See also:George and the St Michael of the Louvre . His first and for him momentous visit to Florence was made towards the end of 1504, when he presented himself with a warm See also:letter of recommendations from hispatroness See also:Joanna della Rovere to the gonfaloniere See also:Pier See also:Soderini .

In Florence Raphael was kindly received, and, in spite of his youth (being barely of age), was welcomed as an equal by the See also:

majority of those great artists who at that See also:time had raised Florence to a See also:pitch of artistic celebrity far above all other cities of the See also:world . At the time of his arrival the whole of artistic Italy was being excited to See also:enthusiasm by the cartoons of the See also:battle of Anghiari and the See also:war with See also:Pisa, on which Leonardo da See also:Vinci and See also:Michelangelo were then devoting their utmost energies . To describe the various influences under which Raphael came, and the many See also:sources, from which be drank in stores of artistic knowledge, would be to give a See also:complete history of Florentine art in the 15th See also:century.' With astonishing rapidity he shook off the mannerisms of Perugino, and put one great artist after another under contribution for some See also:special See also:power of drawing, beauty of See also:colour, or grace of composition in which each happened to excel . Nor was it from painters only that Raphael acquired his enlarged See also:field of knowledge and rapidly growing See also:powers . Sculptors like See also:Ghiberti and See also:Donatello must be numbered among those whose works helped to develop his new-born style.' The See also:Carmine frescoes of See also:Masaccio and Masolino taught this eager student long-remembered lessons of methods of dramatic expression.' Among his contemporaries it was especially See also:Signorelli and Michelangelo who taught him the importance of precision of See also:line and the See also:necessity of a thorough knowledge of the human See also:form.10 From da Vinci he learnt subtleties of modelling and soft beauty of expression," from Fra Bartolommeo See also:nobility of composition and skilful treatment of drapery in dignified folds." The friendship between Raphael and the last of these was very See also:close and lasted for many years . The architect See also:Baccio d'Agnolo was another of his special See also:friends, at whose house the See also:young painter enjoyed social intercourse ' This letter, which still exists, was sold in Paris in 1856, and is now in private hands . ' See See also:Minghetti, " I Maestri di Raffaello," in the Nuova Antologia, 1st See also:August 1881 . 8 See his sketch of St George and the See also:Dragon, in the Uffizi, largely taken from Donatello's See also:pedestal See also:relief outside Or See also:San Michele . See his See also:cartoon of St See also:Paul See also:preaching at See also:Athens (Victoria and See also:Albert Museum) . 10 See many of his life-studies, especially the one he sent to Albert Darer, now at See also:Vienna . 11 See the portrait of Maddalena Doni in the Pitti . 12 See the Madonna del Baldacchino in the Pitti .

with a large circle of the chief artists of Florence, and probably See also:

record of his visit to See also:Siena exists in a sketch of the See also:antique learned from him much that was afterwards useful in his practice as an architect . The transition in Raphael's style from his first or Perugian to his second or Florentine manner is well shown in the large picture of the Coronation of the Virgin painted for Maddalena degli Oddi, now in the Vatican, one of the most beautiful that he ever produced, and especially remarkable for its strong religious sentiment—in this respect a great contrast to the paintings of his last or See also:Roman manner which hang near it . The exquisite grace of the See also:angel musicians and the beauty of the faces show signs of his See also:short visit to Florence, while the See also:general formality of the composition and certain details, such as the fluttering ribands of the angels, recall peculiarities of Perugino and of See also:Pinturicchio, with whose See also:fine picture of the same subject hung close by it is interesting to compare it . Raphael's paint- See also:ing, though by far the more beautiful of the two, is yet inferior to that of Pinturicchio in the composition of the whole; an awkward See also:horizontal line divides the upper See also:group of the Coronation from that below, the apostles See also:standing round the Vir- See also:gin's See also:tomb, filled with See also:roses and lilies (See also:Dante, See also:Par. See also:xxiii . 73), while the older Perugian has skil- fully See also:united the two See also:groups by a less formal arrange- ment of the figures . The See also:predella of this master- piece of Raphael is also in the Vatican; some of its small paintings, especially that of the figures in the Coronation of the Vir- gin, are interesting as g Illustratin Raphael's use of d in (Vatican) . In the Lille museum. showing his careful study See also:models dun g his early period. raped of the rules of perspec- tive.' Several prepara- tory sketches for this picture exist: fig . 1 shows a study, now at Lille, for the two principal figures, Christ setting the See also:crown on His mother's See also:head (see fig . 2) . It is See also:drawn from two youths in the See also:ordinary See also:dress of the time; and it is interesting to compare it with his later studies from the nude, many of which are for figures which in the future picture were to be draped . It was at Florence, as Vasari says, that Raphael began serious life studies, not only from nude models but also by making careful anatomical drawings from dissected corpses and from skeletons . His first visit to Florence lasted only a few months; in 1505 he was again in Perugia painting his first fresco, the Trinity and See also:Saints for the Camaldoli monks of San Severo, now a See also:mere See also:wreck from injury and restorations .

The date MDV and the See also:

signature were added later, probably in 1521 . Part of this See also:work was left incomplete by the painter, and the fresco was finished in 1521 (after his death) by his old master Perugino.' It was probably earlier than this that Raphael visited Siena and assisted Pinturicchio with sketches for his See also:Piccolomini frescoes.' The Madonna of S . See also:Antonio was also finished in 1505, but was probably begun before the Florentine visit." A ' While at Florence he is said to have taught the See also:science of See also:perspective to his friend Fra Bartolommeo, who certainly gave his young instructor valuable lessons on composition in return . 2 The fresco of the Last Supper, dated 1505, in the See also:refectory of S . Onofrio at Florence, is not now claimed as a work of Raphael's, in spite of a signature partly introduced by the restorer . ' Raphael probably had no hand in the actual execution of the paintings; see Schmarsow, Raphael and Pinturicchio in Siena (See also:Stuttgart, 188o), and See also:Milanesi, in his edition of Vasari, iii. p . 515 seq., appendix to life of Pinturicchio . ' This fine altar-piece, with many large figures, is now the property of the heirs of the duke of Ripalta, and is stored in the See also:basement of the National Gallery, London . See also:marble group of the Three See also:Graces, then in the See also:cathedral library, from which, not long afterwards, he painted the small panel of the same subject now in See also:Lord Dudley's collection . In 15o6 Raphael was again in Urbino, where he painted for the duke another picture of St George, which was sent to See also:England as a See also:present to See also:Henry VII . The See also:bearer of this and other gifts was Guidobaldo's See also:ambassador, the accomplished Baldassare See also:Castiglione (q.v.), a friend of Raphael, whose noble portrait of him is in the Louvre . At the court of Duke Guidobaldo the painter's ideas appear to have been led into a more See also:secular direction, and to this stay in Urbino probably belong the Dudley Graces, the miniature " See also:Knight's See also:Dream of See also:Duty and See also:Pleasure " in the National Gallery (London),' and also the " Apollo and Marsyas," sold in 1882 by See also:Morris See also:Moore to the Louvre for £ro,000, a most lovely little panel, painted with almost Flemish minuteness, rich in colour, and graceful in arrangement .

Towards the end of 1506 Raphael returned to Florence, and there (before 1508) produced a large number of his finest works, carefully finished, and for the most part wholly the work of his own hand . Several of these are signed and dated, but the date is frequently very doubtful, owing to his See also:

custom of using Roman numerals, introduced among the sham Arabic embroidered on the borders of dresses, so that the I.'s after the V. are not always distinguishable from the straight lines of the See also:ornament . The following is a See also:list of some of his chief paintings of this period: the " Madonna del Gran Duca " (Pitti) ; " Madonna del Giardino," 1506 (Vienna); " See also:Holy Family with the See also:Lamb," r5o6 or 1507 (See also:Madrid) ; the " Ansidei Madonna," 15o6 or 1507 (National Gallery); the See also:Borghese "Entombment," 1507; Lord See also:Cowper's " Madonna " at Panshanger, 15o8; " La bella Giardiniera," ' This See also:missal-like painting is about 7 in. square; it was bought in 1847 for moo guineas . The National Gallery also possesses its cartoon, in See also:brown See also:ink, pricked for transference . In spite of some adverse opinions, frequently expressed with extreme virulence, the genuineness of this little See also:gem can hardly be doubted by any one who carefully studies it without See also:bias . Sketches for it at Venice and in the Uffizi also appear to See also:bear the impress of Raphael's manner . See Delaborde, Etudes sur les B . Arts . . en Italie, i. p . 236; Gruyer, Raphael et l'antiquite, ii. p . 421; Eitelberger, Rafael's Apollo and Marsyas (Vienna, 1860) ; Batte, Le Raphael de M . Moore (Paris, 1859) ; and also various See also:pamphlets on it by its former owner, Mr .

Morris Moore . 1508 (Louvre); the " Eszterhazy Madonna," probably the same year; as well as the " Madonna del Cardellino " (Uffizi), the " Tempi Madonna " (See also:

Munich), the " See also:Colonna Madonna " (Berlin), the " See also:Bridgewater Madonna " (Bridgewater House), and the " See also:Orleans Madonna " (duc d'See also:Aumale's collection) . The " Ansidei Madonna " was bought in 1884 for the National Gallery from the duke of See also:Marlborough for £70,000, more than three times the highest See also:price ever before given for a picture.' It was painted for the Ansidei family of Perugia as an altar-piece in the church of S . Fiorenzo, and is a work of the highest beauty in colour, well preserved and very large in See also:scale . The Virgin with veiled head is seated on a See also:throne, supporting the See also:Infant with one hand and holding a book in the other . Below stands S . Niccolo da Tolentino, for whose altar it was painted; he holds a book and a See also:crozier, and is clad in jewelled See also:mitre and See also:green See also:cope, under which appear the See also:alb and See also:cassock . On the other side is the Baptist, in red See also:mantle and See also:camel's-See also:hair See also:tunic, holding a crystal See also:cross . The rich jewellery in this picture is painted with Flemish-like minuteness . On the border of the Virgin's robe is a date, formerly read as MDV by Passavant and others; it really is MDVI or MDVII . If the later date is the true one, the picture was probably begun a year or two before . A. favourite method of grouping his Holy Families is that seen in,the " Madonna del Cardellino " and the " Bella Giardiniera," in which the See also:main lines form a See also:pyramid .

This arrangement is also used in the " Madonna del Giardino " and in the larger group, including St See also:

Joseph and St See also:Elizabeth, known as the " Canigiani Holy Family, " now at Munich, one of the least graceful of all Raphael's compositions . The " Entombment of Christ," now in the Galleria Borghese in See also:Rome, was painted during a visit to Perugia in 1507 for See also:Lady See also:Atalanta Baglioni, in memory of the death of her brave and handsome but treacherous son Grifonetto, who was killed in 1500 by his enemies the Oddi party, ? The many studies and preliminary sketches' for this important picture which exist in various collections show that it cost Raphael an unusual amount of thought and labour in its composition, and yet it is quite one of his least successful paintings, especially in colour . It is, however, much injured by scraping and repainting, and appears not to be wholly by his hand . The " Madonna del Baldacchino," one of the finest compositions of the Florentine period, owing much to Fra Bartolommeo, is also unsatisfactory in execution; being left unfinished by Raphael, it was completed by Ridolfo See also:Ghirlandajo, by whom the ungraceful angels of the upper part and the See also:canopy were wholly executed, and even designed . It was painted for the Dei family as an altar-piece for their See also:chapel in S . Spirito, Florence . The " St See also:Catherine " of the National Gallery was probably painted in 15o7; its cartoon, pricked for transference, is in the Louvre . In colouring it much resembles parts of the Borghese " Entombment," being quiet and See also:grey in See also:tone . To the Florentine period belong some of his finest portraits, and it is especially in these that da Vinci's