Rafael Santi biography summary. In one of the frescoes of the Signature Hall, Rafael Santi himself is present among philosophers and enlighteners, as if a participant in this high debate.
"Carrying the Cross" is one of the most tragic works Raphael. It conveys not only the moment of their life of Christ, described in religious sources, but also human emotions, which the author so diligently conveyed. The feeling of sadness […]
"Bridgewater Madonna" is part of a series of paintings by Raphael Santi dedicated to images of the Madonna. Brush legendary artist diligently drew images of the Madonna, each time trying to find, "probe" that very ideal, mysterious and unattainable. The desire to portray […]
Ceiling fresco, mosaic. Dimensions: 120 x 105 cm. Dated 1509-1511. Located in Stanza della Senyatura, Apostolic Palace, Vatican. The indicated stanza - translated from Italian as a room - is the study of the Pope […]
The great Italian artist Raphael Santi was left an orphan early, but he gained his first experience as a painter in the workshop of his father, who painted at the court of the Duke of Urbino. In the future, in his work, Rafael focused on the first […]
The amazing time of the Renaissance gave the history of many brilliant sculptors and artists. It is noteworthy that talented people of that time they possessed precisely a versatile gift - painting, sculptural, graphic, and sometimes even architectural. The genius of Raphael is more […]
In the image, one can clearly see how Raphael was influenced by the work of another artist, Michelangelo. A sacred group is depicted in the center of the canvas - the four evangelists are depicted by four beasts. In the center is not dressed God the Father. His body […]
The work was written in 1502-1503 for the Oddi altarpiece. An interesting fact when creating this canvas, the artist did not independently determine the main components of the image. At the same time, his favorite religious theme in the early […]
The great Italian painter was born in 1483 in Urbino. His father was also a painter and graphic artist, so his training future master I started in my father's workshop.
Rafael's parents died when the boy was barely 11 years old. After their death, he went to Perugia to study at the workshop of Pietro Perugino. He spent about 4 years in the workshop of the master and during this time he acquired his own style.
Carier start
As the saying goes short biography Rafael Santi, after completing his studies, the artist went to live and work in Florence. Here he met such outstanding masters as Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, Bartolomeo della Porta. He learned from these eminent masters the secrets portrait painting and sculptures.
In 1508 the artist moved to Rome and became the official painter of the papal court. He held this position both under Pope Julius II and under Pope Leo X. It was for the latter that Raphael painted the Sistine Chapel - greatest masterpiece the Renaissance.
In 1514, Raphael became the chief architect of St. Peter's Cathedral. He also did a lot of excavations in Rome, worked on commission for numerous churches, painted portraits (though mostly portraits of friends), and carried out especially significant private orders.
A retrospective of the artist's work: the Florentine period
The artist completed his first works in his father's workshop. Most a prime example creativity of the young artist Banner with the image of the Holy Trinity. This work is still in the house-museum in Urbino.
While studying with Pietro Perugino, Rafael began to work on the images of his classical Madonnas. His most striking work of the period from 1501 to 1504 is the Conestabile Madonna.
The Florentine period is the most eventful in the life of Raphael. He created at this time his recognized masterpieces, such as: “Lady with a unicorn”, “ holy family”, “St. Catherine of Alexandria".
Also during this period, he painted a lot of Madonnas. The Raphael Madonna is, first of all, a mother (most likely, the artist was greatly influenced by the early departure of his own mother). The best Madonnas of this period: “Madonna with a Carnation”, “Madonna Granduk”, “Beautiful Gardener”.
A retrospective of the artist's work: the Roman period
The Roman period of creativity is the pinnacle of the artist's career. He moved away from the classical biblical stories and turned to antiquity. Recognized world masterpieces are: “The School of Athens”, “Parnassus”, “Sistine Madonna” (painting on the wall Sistine Chapel- the pinnacle of Raphael's skill), "Madonna Alba", "Madonna with a fish".
Death of an artist
Raphael died in 1520, presumably from Roman fever, which he "caught" during excavations. Buried in the Pantheon.
Other biography options
- Raphael was familiar with A. Dürer. It is known that the latter gave Raphael his self-portrait, but his fate is still unknown.
- Villa Farnesina is a special stage in the artist's activity. It can be said that for the first time he refers to ancient mythology And history painting. This is how the frescoes “The Triumph of Galatea” and “The Wedding of Alexander and Roxana” appear. Interestingly, Raphael also painted from the nude. His best work in this regard is Fornarina (it is believed that most portraits of women, made by the artist, were written off from his model and beloved Fornarina, whose fate is little known).
- Raphael wrote beautiful sonnets, mostly dedicated to love to women.
- In 2002, one of Raphael's graphic works was sold at Sotheby's for a record amount for this type of work - £ 30 million.
All Raphael's paintings are a vivid reflection of his subtle nature. WITH early years he was endowed with a hardened industriousness and a desire for spiritual and pure beauty. Therefore, in his works he tirelessly conveyed the bewitching forms of lofty ideas. Perhaps that is why such a thing was born under the brush of the master great amount works that convey the perfection of the surrounding world and its ideals. Probably, none of the Renaissance artists so skillfully and deeply enlivened the plots of their paintings. Recall at least a real masterpiece of art of that time " Sistine Madonna ". Unshakable and desirable, an image of a unique, wonderful vision appears before the viewer. It seems to descend from the bluish depths of the heavens and envelop those around with its majestic and noble golden radiance. Mary comes down solemnly and boldly, holding her baby in her arms. Such paintings by Raphael are a vivid reflection of his lofty feelings and pure sincere emotions. Monumental forms, clear silhouettes, balanced composition - this is the whole author, his aspirations for high ideals and perfection.
On his canvases, the master fell in love with feminine beauty, graceful grandeur and gentle charm of the heroines. No wonder he, at least two of his works " Three Graces" And " Cupid and graces» dedicated beautiful goddesses Roman mythology - ancient Greek Charites. Their soft forms and rich lines embodied the most joyful, kind and bright beginning of all life. Rafael tirelessly drew inspiration from them. Purposefully, he portrayed the goddesses naked in order to bring each viewer closer to the virgin and tender nature. high art. Perhaps that is why the rest of the artist's works vividly display the divine power, sensual beauty, inextricably linked with the ideals of the surrounding world.
Lyrics: Ksusha Kors
Biography
Epoch High Renaissance in Italy gave the world great artists: Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, Raphael, Titian. Each of them in his work embodied the spirit and ideals of the era. Cognitive purposefulness was vividly reflected in the work of Leonardo, in the works of Michelangelo - the pathos and drama of the struggle for great perfection, in Titian - a cheerful free-thinking, Raphael sings of the feelings of beauty and harmony.
Rafael (more precisely Raffaello Santi) was born April 6, 1483(according to other sources, March 28, 1483) in the family of the court painter and poet of the Duke of Urbino, Giovanni Santi, in the city of Urbino. Raphael's father was an educated man and it was he who instilled in his son a love of art. And Raphael received his first painting lessons from his father.
When Raphael was 8 years old, his mother died, and at the age of 11, after the death of his father, he was left an orphan.
The city of Urbino, in which Raphael was born and raised, in the middle of the 15th century is brilliant art center, hearth humanistic culture Italy. Young artist could get to know wonderful works arts in the churches and palaces of Urbino, and the beneficial atmosphere of beauty and art awakened the imagination, dreams, brought up artistic taste. Biographers and researchers of Raphael's work suggest that for the next 5-6 years he studied painting with mediocre Urbino masters Evangelista di Piandimeleto and Timoteo Viti.
IN 1500 In the year Rafael Santi moved to Perugia to continue his education in the workshop of the largest Umbrian painter, Pietro Perugino (Vannucci). Artistic manner Perugino contemplative and lyrical was close. First artistic compositions were performed by Raphael at the age of 17-19 " Three Graces», « Dream of a knight"and the famous" Madonna Conestabile". The theme of the Madonna is especially close to the lyrical talent of Raphael, and it is no coincidence that she will remain one of the main ones in his work.
The Madonnas of Raphael, as a rule, are depicted against the backdrop of landscapes, their faces breathe calmness and love.
In the Perugine period, the painter creates the first monumental composition for the church - “ Mary's betrothal", which marks new stage in his work. IN 1504 Raphael moved to Florence in the year. He lived in Florence for four years, occasionally traveling to Urbino, Perugia, Bologna. In Florence, the artist joins the artistic ideals of Renaissance art, gets acquainted with the works of antiquity. At the same time, Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo worked in Florence, creating cardboard for battle scenes in the Palazzo Vecchiu.
Raphael studies antique art, makes sketches from the works of Donatello, from the compositions of Leonardo and Michelangelo. He draws a lot from life, depicts nude models, achieves the correct transfer of the structure of the body, its movement, plasticity. At the same time he studies the laws of monumental composition.
Raphael's painting style is changing: it finds a stronger expression of plastic, forms - more generalized, compositions - simpler and more rigorous. During this period of his work, the image of the Madonna becomes the main one. The fragile, dreamy Umbrian Madonnas were replaced by images of more earthly full-blooded ones, their inner world became more complex and emotionally rich.
Compositions depicting Madonnas with babies brought fame and popularity to Raphael: “ Madonna del Granduca"(1505)," Madonna Tempi"(1508)," Orleans Madonna», « Madonna Column". In each painting on this subject, the artist finds new nuances, artistic fantasies make them completely different, the images acquire greater freedom and movement. The landscapes surrounding the Mother of God are a world of serenity and idyll. This period of the painter, madonna artist"- the flowering of his lyrical talent.
The Florentine period of Raphael's work ends with the monumental canvas " Position in the coffin» (1507) and marks his transition to a monumental-heroic generalized style.
autumn 1508 Raphael moves to Rome. At that time, at the invitation of Pope Julius II, the best architects, sculptors, and painters from all over Italy came to Rome. Scientists - humanists gathered around the papal court. Popes, powerful spiritual and secular rulers, collected works of art, patronized science and the arts. In Rome, Raphael becomes a great master of monumental painting.
Pope Julius II instructed Raphael to decorate the papal chambers in the Vatican Palace, the so-called stanzas (rooms), with paintings. Rafael worked on the frescoes for nine years - from 1508 to 1517. The frescoes of Raphael became the embodiment of the humanistic dream of rebirth of the spiritual and physical perfection of man, his high calling and his creative possibilities. Themes of the frescoes forming single cycle- this is the personification and glorification of Truth (Vero), Good, Good (Bene), Beauty, Beautiful (Bello). At the same time, these are, as it were, three interconnected spheres of human activity - intellectual, moral and aesthetic.
The theme of the fresco Dispute» (« Dispute”) affirmation of the triumph of the highest truth (the truth of religious revelation), communion. On the opposite wall is the best fresco of the Vatican stanzas, the greatest creation of Raphael " Athenian school». « Athenian school” symbolizes the rational search for truth by philosophy and science. IN " the school of Athens» the painter depicted a collection of ancient thinkers and scientists.
The third fresco of Stanza della Senyatura " Parnassus"- the personification of the idea of Bello - Beauty, the Beautiful. This fresco depicts Apollo surrounded by muses, playing the viol with inspiration, below are famous and nameless poets, playwrights, prose writers, mostly ancient (Homer, Sappho, Alcaeus, Virgil, Dante, Petrarch ...). Allegorical scene opposite " Parnassus”, glorifies (Bene) Good, Good. This idea is personified by the figures of Wisdom, Measure and Strength, rhythmically united by the figures of little geniuses. Three of which symbolize the virtues - Faith, Hope, Mercy.
Raphael was engaged in monumental painting until the last years of his life. The surviving drawings of Raphael clearly reveal the originality creative method artist, preparation and implementation of the main task of the work. the main objective is the creation of a complete and complete composition.
During the years of work in Rome, Raphael receives many orders for the execution of portraits. The portraits created by him are simple, strict in composition, the main, the most significant, the unique stands out in the appearance of a person: “ Portrait of a cardinal», « Portrait of the writer Baldassare Castiglione"(friend of Rafael) ...
And in easel painting Raphael, the plot with the Madonna remains the same theme: “ Madonna Alba"(1509)," Madonna in the chair"(1514-1515), altar paintings -" Madonna di Foligno"(1511-1512)," St. Cecilia» (1514).
The greatest creation of easel painting by Raphael Sistine Madonna"(1513-1514). The royally majestic human intercessor descends to earth. The Madonna hugs the little Christ, but her hugs are ambiguous: they contain both love and parting - she gives him to people for suffering and torment. The Madonna moves and is still. She stays in her sublime ideal world and goes to the earthly world. Mary forever bears her son to people - the incarnation, a symbol of the highest humanity, beauty and greatness of the sacrificial maternal love. Raphael created the image of the Mother of God, understandable to everyone.
The last years of Raphael's life were devoted to different areas activities. IN 1514 year he was appointed to supervise the construction of St. Peter's Cathedral, oversaw the progress of all construction and repair work in the Vatican. Created architectural projects Church of Sant Eligio degli Orefici (1509), Palazzo Pandolfini in Florence, Villa Madama.
IN 1515-1516 years, together with his students, he created cardboards for carpets intended for decoration in holidays Sistine Chapel.
The last work - " Transfiguration"(1518-1520) - performed with significant participation of students and was completed by them after the death of the master.
Raphael's painting reflected the style, aesthetics and worldview of the era, the era of the High Renaissance. Raphael was born to express the ideals of the Renaissance, the dream of a beautiful man and a beautiful world.
Rafael died at the age of 37 April 6, 1520. great artist buried with full honors in the Pantheon. Rafael remained the pride of Italy and all mankind for centuries.
Features of the work of Raphael Santi (1483-1520), Italian artist, masters of graphics and architecture, a representative of the picturesque Umbrian school are set out in this article.
Rafael Santi creativity and main ideas
The work of Raphael Santi briefly
Creativity embodied the bright and lofty ideals of Renaissance humanism. He lived a short but busy life. And during this time, the content of Rafael Santi's work expanded to create an ideal of harmoniously developed, beautiful person surrounded by majestic landscape and architecture. Learning from Perugino future artist adopted the freedom of setting figures, the smoothness of lines.
At the age of 17, he already created a number of paintings full of spiritual clarity, harmony and maturity - "Madonna Conestabile", "Sistine Madonna", "Betrothal of Mary".
Arriving in Florence, he absorbed the knowledge local artists like a sponge. The main ideas of Raphael Santi Florentine period have been pierced lyrical theme maternal love (the artist lost his mother at the age of 8). Here he created such paintings: “Madonna with a Goldfinch”, “Madonna in the Green”, “Beautiful Gardener”. All of them had the same type of composition of the figures of the baby Christ, Mary and the Baptist against the background rural landscape. The artist's strokes are soft, melodious and natural.
In 1508, Pope Julius II invited him to Rome to paint the Vatican Palace. The artist worked on the palace for 8 whole years, which allowed him to be promoted to the top three largest masters monumental art. Distinctive feature Santi is a decorative system of frescoes with allegorical figures. The Roman period was rich not only in frescoes, but also in portrait paintings.
Rafael Santi achievements in the field of portraiture: he painted portraits of Pope Leo X, Julius II, Cardinal Ludovico dei Rossi and Giulio dei Medici. They were sharp and full of life.
But most greatest creation the master remains the "Sistine Madonna". This is very deep image walking on the clouds, Mary in her arms with a baby. The picture radiates impeccable harmony, dynamic balance, smooth linear outlines, freedom and naturalness of movements.
What did Rafael Santi do for art?
He created his own worldview in art, based on his ideas. The latter were formulated on the basis of Plato's treatises. His paintings from the Madonna cycle convey the grace and beauty of mothers, and his portraits convey grandeur and dignity, bearing the stamp of spirituality. The artist managed to synthesize two worlds: Christian and classical Greek. In this, historians see the main merit of Santi before art. "Hellenized Christianity" contained the experience of the author's predecessors, who thoroughly studied it. The master of the brush approved a new ideal in the art of the West. He managed to convert humanistic ideas into clear and simple images conveying philosophical and everyday concepts.
The birthplace of the great Italian architect and painter, Rafaelo Santi, known as Raphael, became the town of Urbino - the capital of a small duchy in Italy. Date of birth - March 28, 1483.
Rafael received his first painting lessons from Giovanni Santi, his father. Most likely, at the same time he took lessons from Timoteo Viti - he was not particularly famous, but quite gifted. At the age of 16, Rafael was apprenticed to Pietro Venucci who bore the nickname Perugino, who at that time led the painters in Urbino. The work of Raphael most clearly reflects the ideas of the High Renaissance.
The peculiarity of Raphael's work is that he produced a synthesis of the achievements of his predecessors. He created his own ideal of man, his own idea of harmony and beauty. From his teacher, Perugino, Rafael took smooth lines, freedom of arrangement of figures in space, this characteristics his later, mature works.
In his works, Raphael embodied the ideas of humanism of the Renaissance. These are ideas about the freedom of a person, about the possibilities of his physical and spiritual improvement. Of course, these ideas and dreams were very far from the realities in which the artist lived. However, he managed to reflect the aspirations and those milestones that had already been achieved by the renewed culture of Italy, and to which other peoples and subsequent eras aspired.
His images are so noble, charming and attractive due to the unique harmony, amazing sense of proportion, the ability to combine real and imaginary, fantastic images.
In the period from 1504 to 1508, Raphael lives and works in Florence, where, of course, his work was influenced by Michelangelo and Leonardo da Vinci. It was at this time that his work matured, it was then that he produced his best works, including the famous Madonna and Child.
Raphael is engaged in painting the stanza della Senyatura (printing room), where he demonstrates the talent of a muralist decorator. In this hall are his works such as " Dispute», « Athenian school"- they are on long walls, on narrow ones his other works" Parnassus», « Wisdom, Temperance and Strength". The creations of this hall are distinguished by grace and grandeur. Raphael's talent always found his admirers and he never experienced a lack of customers. Moreover, in order to cope with all the orders, he resorted to the services of assistants who worked on the decorative part of the paintings. IN last years, the portraits painted by him raise the level of his skill to the level of Leonardo da Vinci. After the death of Bramane in 1514, he served as the architect of St. Peter's Cathedral.
Raphael, in his letter to Baldassara Castiglione, explains the ideality of his art in a very simple way. He says that, in order to portray beautiful woman, he needs to see many beauties, having other judges nearby who will confirm that women are beautiful, and immediately speaks of the absence of both the first and second, and therefore he turns to his imagination, to his ideas, which strive for perfection.
These "ideas" of his are based on the treatises of Plato. His "Madonnas" convey the beauty and grace of mothers, portraits of fellow tribesmen convey dignity and grandeur, bear the stamp of amazing spirituality. Raphael succeeded in what our contemporaries consider his historical merit, he was able to create a synthesis of two worlds - the Greek classics and the Christian world. Such a “Hellenized Christianity”, based on Neoplatonism inherent in the Renaissance, incorporated the previous experience in the development of Italian art, which had gone from medieval traditions. This is the moment of the new artistic ideal in Western art.
Raphael managed to translate the humanistic ideas of his time into simple and clear images that conveyed both everyday and philosophical concepts.
Contemporaries remember Raphael as a man of the heart, amenable to external influences. He had a pleasant appearance, a "patrician face". He carried himself confidently, but without arrogance. His nature was soft, almost feminine.
His subtle spirituality shines through already in his early work " Madonna Conestabile", which is now kept in the Hermitage. Composition " Mary's betrothal' demonstrates his ability to work with compositional solution of his works, arrange the figures in space, connect them with the environment. In these early work he demonstrates his becoming a master of the High Renaissance - this is confirmed by the manner of constructing a drawing, and harmony architectural forms, and integrity, balance of parts of the composition.
Sistine Madonna
Raphael perceived any painting or fresco as a single organism, he believed that he was re-creating a reality ennobled by the artist. His images and created spaces contain elements of classical architecture and natural objects. without even depicting architectural objects, Raphael creates his composition like an architectural one, dividing the space and using its rhythmic construction. He skillfully uses the characteristic structural forms of pictorial compositions, which are born from linear forms - circles and semicircles, and spheres or hemisphere domes that are born from them. All parts of his paintings are subject to circular motion, they are located either along the plane, creating depth, or unfolding in a circle, then moving in a spiral.
A year before his death, Rafael finishes his most famous painting, which is deservedly considered the pinnacle of his work - the famous Sistine Madonna, which was written for the church of St. Sixtus in Piacenza.
Raphael decided to present the sacrament of the appearance of the Mother of God as a visible miracle. To do this, he uses a parted curtain. In such scenes, the curtain is usually held up by angels; in the same picture, the curtain seems to be parted by the holy spirit. The fact that the Mother of God is an unearthly phenomenon is evidenced by the ease with which she walks barefoot through the clouds, clutching her son to her chest.
In his creation, Raphael managed to combine ideal features, that religious ideality that is inherent in all holy souls with natural humanity. The heavenly queen carries her child towards people. She walks with the pride of a mother who bore a divine child, in her every movement there is inaccessibility - she no longer belongs to herself and this world, she has a different destiny.
Her tender face bears the seal of inexpressible grief - she is anxious and foresees the fate of the child. Initially, the painting was in the choir of the monastery church of St. Sixtus in Piacenza. There she seemed to float. From a distance it looked flat dark spot on a light background. If you get closer to the picture, then the impression changes, the viewer is captured by new sensations.
Planar incorporeality disappears, all figures become voluminous, life appears in each of them. And in front of the viewer is no longer the Mother of God, soaring in the clouds, but a woman coming to meet us. Her clothes seem to sway in a stream of air - the edge of the cloak and the coverlet were thrown off by the headwind, and the curtain that opens the figures in front of us helps to create a complete illusion of movement.
The artist's idea combines two spaces, the one on the other side of the canvas, the imaginary ideal space and the real space in which the audience is located. In order to make sure that we have a canvas in front of us, it is not necessary to approach it and touch it.
Realizing that before us is just a skillfully painted canvas, in our thoughts and feelings, at the level of more subtle matters, we feel close to the Mother of God. And, if at the very beginning there is a feeling that the Madonna is descending towards us, then for a short time, having been next to her, there is a feeling that it is we who are rising to meet her. However, this does not confuse the viewer, does not cause internal conflict. The feeling of unreality passes and Madonna freezes.
It is interesting that in this work the artist does not use images of the sky or the earth. There are no architectural decorations or landscapes so characteristic of Raphael's work. All the action takes place in the clouds that fill the whole picture. The clouds, denser at the bottom of the picture, are gentle and luminous at the top. The image of the curtain frames the figures tightly, so from a distance a feeling of a flat pattern is created, and the complexity of the depicted space is only guessed.
