Raphael

(Raffaele Sanzio, 1483-1520)

   The youngest of the three major figures of the artistic High Renaissance, known primarily as a painter but also employed as an architect. Born at Urbino and ini-tially trained by his father, he subsequently studied at Perugia under Perugino. He painted in Perugia, Urbino, and Florence, and in Flo-rence he studied the works of Masaccio, Leonardo da Vinci, and Michelangelo. His paintings at Florence included several of his many Madonnas, such as Madonna del Granduca and Madonna of the Goldfinch, as well as several portraits. Upon learning that Pope Julius II admired his work, Raphael left Florence for Rome, where he pro-duced his most famous paintings, including the work commonly re-garded as his masterpiece, The School of Athens (1510-1511), but also Galatea (1513), the Sistine Madonna (1513-1514), and a number of portraits, of which the most striking are his revealing portrait of Pope Leo X with His Nephews (ca. 1518) and individual portraits of Pope Julius II (1511-1512 and 1515-1516) and many others. His last painting, completed shortly before his premature death, was The Transfiguration. Raphael was a popular painter and established a large workshop which trained many of the leading artists of the next generation. After the death of the original architect of the new basil-ica of St. Peter, in 1514 Leo X appointed him chief architect, but his new plan was never put into execution. He designed a number of other secular and church buildings at Rome.