Raphael
RAFFAELLO SANZIO, or SANTI D'URBINO, the greatest of modern painters, and head of the Roman school; born in Urbino, Italy, March 28, 1483. He received his earliest instructions from his father, Giovanni Santi, after whose death, in 1494, he became the pupil of Perugino. In 1504 he visited Florence, and chiefly lived there till 1508, when he was called to Rome by Pope Julius II., and employed to paint the stanze (chambers) of the Vatican.
Raphael spent spent the rest of his short life at Rome, where he formed a numerous school of painters, among whom the most eminent were Giulio Romano, Gian Francesco Pennis, Pierino del Vaga, Polidoro da Caravaggio, and Garofalo. In the RAPHAEL numerous works, frescoes, and oil paintings of this unrivaled master, three styles are distinctly recognizable. The first is the "Peruginesque,” in which sentiment predominates, and was the pure imitation of his master's manner.
The second is the "Florentine," marked by a great advance in respect to form and dramatic composition; it was the result of his studies at Florence; where he was impressed by the cartoons of Leonardo da Vinci and Michael Angelo, and the works of Masaccio, Francia, and RAPHE Fra Bartolomeo di San Marco. The third style is called the "Roman," and is peculiarly Raphael's own-that which constitutes him the greatest of painters.
Its supreme excellence is the equable de velopment of all the essential qualities of art, composition, expression, design, coloring. Of the paintings executed before his visit to Florence must be named "Coronation of the Virgin," now in the Vatican, and the "Sposalizio, or Marriage of the Virgin," in the Brera at Milan. Among those in his second manner are the "Entombment of Christ," in the Borghese gallery at Rome; the "Madonna del Baldacchino," in the Pitti Palace at Florence; the "Madonna del Gran Duca," in the same palace; and the grand fresco, "Theology," or "Dispute on the Sacrament," the first he executed in the Vatican. "The School of Athens," or RAPP use now, however, is restricted to occa sions of state ceremonial.