RAFFAELLO Sanzio
Italian High Renaissance Painter, 1483-1520
Italian painter and architect. As a member of Perugino's workshop, he established his mastery by 17 and began receiving important commissions. In 1504 he moved to Florence, where he executed many of his famous Madonnas; his unity of composition and suppression of inessentials is evident in The Madonna of the Goldfinch (c. 1506). Though influenced by Leonardo da Vinci's chiaroscuro and sfumato, his figure types were his own creation, with round, gentle faces that reveal human sentiments raised to a sublime serenity. In 1508 he was summoned to Rome to decorate a suite of papal chambers in the Vatican. The frescoes in the Stanza della Segnatura are probably his greatest work; the most famous, The School of Athens (1510 C 11), is a complex and magnificently ordered allegory of secular knowledge showing Greek philosophers in an architectural setting. The Madonnas he painted in Rome show him turning away from his earlier work's serenity to emphasize movement and grandeur, partly under Michelangelo's High Renaissance influence. The Sistine Madonna (1513) shows the richness of colour and new boldness of compositional invention typical of his Roman period. He became the most important portraitist in Rome, designed 10 large tapestries to hang in the Sistine Chapel, designed a church and a chapel, assumed the direction of work on St. Peter's Basilica at the death of Donato Bramante,
ID: 63776 The Miraculous Draught of Fishes 1519 Tapestry in silk and wool, with silver-gilt threads, height 490 cm, width 441 cm Musei Vaticani, Vatican The tapestry was made by Pieter van Aelst, after a cartoon by Raphael Sanzio. Luke (5:1-11) recounts how Jesus, sitting in a boat, began teaching the multitudes on the shore. Then he asked Simon Peter to head towards deep water and cast the fishing nets again. Peter obeyed and they caught such a large amount of fish, that the nets began to break. They called for help and they filled both boats, so that they began to sink. Simon Peter fell down at Jesus' feet, saying "Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord!". For amazement had seized him and also James, son of Zebedee, his brother John and all their companions, because of the catch of fish which they had taken. And Jesus said to Simon "Do not fear, from now on you will be catching men." In the background, one can recognize the Vatican hill, with the towers along the wall of Leo IV, and Saint Peter's under construction. The cranes in the foreground, symbols of vigilance, are contrasted with the seagulls that allude to sin and apostasy. In the lower border two episodes in the life of Giovanni de'Medici (Pope Leo X) are depicted: on the left, his retinue, as he arrives in Rome for the conclave. On the right, the election of March 11, 1513. The border simulates a relief and is executed in chiaroscuro. Raphael's designs revolutionized the tradition of tapestry weaving, for they required a faithful rendering of atmosphere, light, textures, and pictorial form that had never been seen in this medium before. Here, for the first time, the usual monochrome background, or one depicting flowers and small ornaments, was abandoned in favour of a genuine pictorial space, in which the figures could move about.Artist:RAFFAELLO Sanzio Title: The Miraculous Draught of Fishes Painted in 1501-1550 , Italian - - graphics : religious
