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The "rebirth" of art in Italy, otherwise known as the Renaissance, was connected with the rediscovery of ancient philosophy, literature, and science and the development of methods in these fields using keen observation. Greater awareness of classical knowledge created a new way to learn by direct study of the natural world. Because of this, religious themes became increasingly important to artists, and with the large interest in the Middle Ages came a new idea for subjects drawn from Greek and Roman history and mythology. The models provided by ancient buildings and works of art also inspired the development of new artistic techniques and the desire to recreate the forms and styles of classical art.
Raphael was one of the greatest and most influential painters of the Italian Renaissance. His figures and compositions influenced artists up to the early 1900 s. The period of Raphael's influence was called the High Renaissance. Raphael painted altarpieces, frescoes (paintings on damp plaster) of historical and mythological scenes, and portraits. His most popular works include his paintings of the Madonna and Child. Raphael was also an architect.
From 1514 until his unfortunate death, he directed the construction of St. Peters Basilica in Rome. Raphael, otherwise known as Raffaello Santi or Santi, was born in the Umbrian City of Urbino, . The atmosphere was probably quite familiar to Raphael from an early age since his father, Giovanni di Santi di Piero, a respectable poet and painter, was well known throughout the Urbino circle. Giovanni died when Raphael was only eleven, however, his workshop was still maintained, and it was there where Raphael received his first artistic training. His development was exceptional and there are works related to him with certainty that they must have been painted in 1499 - 1500, when he was at the most seventeen.
The most extraordinary of these are two banners in the Pinacoteca Comunale at Citta di Castello, near Urbino. Little of his fathers influence is seen in these and other early works, although, the young artist was influenced by two major early Renaissance figures, the painter Piero della Francesca and the architect Leone Battista Alberti, as well as the leading Umbrian painter of his own time, Perugino. In 1500 - 1501, with Evangelista da Plan di Meet, Raphael began a large altarpiece, The Coronation of Saint Nicholas of Tolentino, for the church of Sant Agostino in Citta di Castello. Remaining fragments in the Pinacoteca Too Martinengo, Brescia, and the Museo Nazionale di Capodimonte, Naples, show great technical knowledge. It also showed a unique skill Raphael had, the ability to use the forms of another artist while combining them with his own style. It is evident that Perugino was his model in this piece.
Many of Raphael's early pieces were, in fact, similar to Perugino's works. His Marriage of the Virgin, painted in 1504, is closely related to Perugino's altarpiece on the same subject. Raphael's work, however, is more organized than Perugino's. The perspective is more accurate, and the figures are more expressed. To some, this may even be evidence that Raphael was also studying Alberti. Another difference between the works of Raphael and Perugino was the way Raphael, unlike Perugino, concentrated on human and natural emotion.
When Raphael went to Florence in 1504, at the age of twenty-one, he was somewhat considered to be a mature artist, however, from another point of view, he had almost everything to learn. During his four years in Florence he turned for influence not only from famous artists from that city, Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo, but also to Masaccio, Donatello, and other Tuscan artists of the early Renaissance. Raphael was very eager with his study and fast with his development, and by the time he left Florence he was close to becoming an equal to Leonardo and Michelangelo. The most well known works of Raphael's days in Florence combine a long series of Madonnas and Holy Families. One of the earlier paintings, the Madonna del Granduca (1505), greatly displays the influence of Perugino in the Virgins expression, however, the expression of the infant Jesus shows the new spirit of humanism. Raphael's adaptation of new humanism was due to his appreciation of Michelangelo's works and the works of Leonardo da Vinci.
The influence of these famous artists is shown in many of his later works, however, it is an influence centered on spirit rather than technique. Of all the Madonnas, the Madonna of the Goldfinch is the most well known, however, the La Belle Jardiniere, painted in 1507, stands out as an excellent example of Raphael's expertise for expression. This piece is simple yet balanced, and is, indeed, very similar to the Madonnas of Leonardo and Michelangelo. The more natural and gentle style, however, makes it stand out as one of Raphael's. There are other works that were obviously influenced by Leonardo, although at the same time quite different.
They include a pair of portraits of Angelo Do and his wife Maddalena, which are now in the Palazzo Citta in Florence. These are two of the finest of a group of portraits that Raphael produced while in Florence. Both are based on the design of Leonardo's Mona Lisa, but were altered with sharpness instead of softness of color used by Leonardo. Along with the numerous paintings Raphael did of Madonnas, Holy Families, and portraits accepted from patrons of Florence, he also produced pictures for patrons in various other cities. Among these pictures are some of the earliest altarpieces of the High Renaissance. These works are larger in for than any altarpiece produced in the fifteenth century.
Raphael was quite a flexible artist whose personal style could change very quickly due to different problems. There is evidence of this change of expression in The Deposition (1507). The picture was given to a Florentine woman, in memory of a son killed in a family dispute. The painting of this depressing scene lacks balance and symmetry, and the colors are u...
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