When we talk about great artists, we mostly talk about their great works. The famous "School of Athens" and other frescoes in the Vatican's semi-public rooms, portraits of Pope Julius II and Leo X, Madonna are always mentioned when it comes to Raphael Santi, and do you know any interesting facts from his life?
When we talk about the great artists of the Italian Renaissance, it is impossible not to mention Rafael Santi. He was born in 1483 in Urbino and during his relatively short life (he died in 1520) he managed to become the most sought-after painter in Europe and one of the most influential artists of all time.
His works such as the Athenian School, the Sistine Madonna and Galatea's Triumph continue to arouse the admiration of all who are fortunate enough to see them live, and the name of their author stands side by side with Michelangelo, Leonard, Jan van Icke and other Renaissance masters in art history. .
In the following lines, we will reveal 5 interesting facts that you may not have known about this great painter
His father was a painter
Raphael's father, Giovanni Santi, was also an artist. He was a court painter in Urbina, who had the task of painting portraits of members of the court and religious paintings. Giovanni died when Raffaelo was only 11 years old, so it is unlikely that he managed to learn much about painting from his father. On the other hand, there is no doubt that he learned to appreciate real art from an early age.
Raphael's teacher was a master of the early Renaissance
At the age of 17, Raffaelo already had enough skills to open his own workshop. At that time, however, the practice was for young painters to work for renowned older painters for some time. For that reason, he moved to Perugia in 1498, where he worked for the next two years for the most famous painter in this city, Pietro Perugina. It is interesting that it was Perugino who was given the task by Pope Julius II to paint the rooms in the Vatican, but in the end he still had to leave this job to his student, whose style the pope preferred.
Michelangelo was his great rival
By the time Raphael arrived in Rome in 1508, Michelangelo had been working for Pope Julius II for three years. The young painter was working on his famous frescoes in the Vatican at the same time as Michelangelo was painting the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel. This caused a great rivalry between these two artists. Michelangelo was not thrilled that his younger colleague received so much recognition for his painting technique, and he thought that he was copying his style. It is interesting that Raphael painted Michelangelo on his famous fresco of the Athens School.
He was very charming
During his childhood spent with his father at the court of Urbino, Rafael learned how to behave in society. This helped him a lot when he later received orders from people from elite circles, but it also enabled him to establish good cooperation with other artists who helped him in his workshop. His charm, of course, helped him to be successful in finding mistresses. Raffaelo did not marry, but he was in a long relationship with Marguerite Luti, who posed for his famous portrait of La Fornarina.
Raffaelo had a lot of assistants
As many as 50 assistants were employed in Rafael's painting workshop. They completed many of his started paintings, and often made paintings from scratch based on his drawings. It was a common practice at the time, which allowed Raphael to accept new orders from wealthy individuals and the church at a time when he was still preoccupied with the work he had begun.
Genes and a good teacher made him an irreplaceable artist. Beautiful article