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: 63820 Madonna and Child 1508 Oil on wood, 81 x 57 cm National Gallery of Art, Washington The dominance of the lyrical and graceful aspect of this painting (known also as The Niccolini-Cowper Madonna) over the religious content mark it as belonging to Raphael's Florentine period, 1505-08. In fact this panel, signed and dated 1508, was executed near the end of Raphael's stay in Florence. The date 1508 and the artist's monogram "RV" have been worked into the embroidery of the Virgin's robe. The title derives from the names of two former owners. The full, well-formed figures reveal an early influence of Michelangelo, while the soft modeling and the use of chiaroscuro reveal the influence of Leonardo. Fra Bartolomeo's influence is particularly clear. The composition is extremely simple and essential; the gesture of the Child, who stretches his hand toward the Virgin while turning his attention toward the spectator, and the gesture with which the Virgin holds the hand to her breast, provide the only signs of life. The sentiment of anxious motherhood which, enriched by greater awareness, will be fully expressed in the Tempi Madonna, now in the Alte Pinakothek of Munich, appears here for the first time.Artist:RAFFAELLO Sanzio Title: Madonna and Child (The Large Cowper Madonna) Painted in 1501-1550 , Italian - - painting : religious
