Raphael Sanzio

Julian Rosa

Ms.Saccaro

Harvard

June 02, 2008

Raphael Sanzio

Raphael Sanzio was enormously talented and named one of the top three great artists of the high renaissance. Raphael Sanzio, usually known by his first name born April 6 or March 28, 1483. Died April 6, 1520 he was a painter and an Italian Architect of the High Renaissance, best known and remembered for the perfection and gentleness of his paintings and drawings. Together with Michelangelo and Leonardo da Vinci they form the three great names of the high renaissance.

Raphael, the last of the three greatest painters of the Renaissance, was born Raffaello Sanzio in Urbino, in the province of Mache. It is probable that he took his first lessons from his father, a provincial painter named Giovanni di Santi, before going to Florence .By 1500 he was working in the studio of Perugino (an artist well known for his serene and beautifully colored works). Raphael had influence from Michelangelo and Leonardo, both lived in Florence during this time, Raphael, whose early work already was surpassing his master’s work. Raphael's work became beaming, robust, and clear in color. Throughout his 37 years of life his abilities as an experienced artist never faded his visions where always fresh and intelligent. He went to Rome in 1504, where his many talents and his mellow personality brought him friends, honor, and success. Before he died he painted the heroic and idealistic frescoes for Pope Julius II's private rooms in the Vatican, Raphael was an architect on the plans for St. Peter's , drawn cartoons for tapestries for the Sistine Chapel was appointed superintendent of the excavation of ancient Rome.. The center of a group of artists and intellectuals, Raphael lived an active life. Despite the fact that he had a large studio with many assistants and students, the numerous architectural and painting commissions he received caused him to overwork. He died at the age of thirty-seven, leaving behind an unfinished Transfiguration, indicative in its unusual composition of a further artistic maturation which was all too abruptly terminateda

Raphael was born in the small but artistically advanced Central Italian city of Urbino