(1483-1520) is one of the brightest geniuses. He endured a difficult childhood, losing his mother and father early. However, then fate, not stinting, gave him everything. what he wanted - numerous orders, huge success and loud fame, wealth and honor, universal love, including the love of women. Admiring admirers called him "divine". However, it has long been noted that fate is capricious and unpredictable. From whom she showers gifts too generously, she may suddenly turn away. This is exactly what happened to Raphael: in the prime of life and creativity, he suddenly died.

Raphael was an architect and painter. Following Bramante, he participated in the design and construction of the Cathedral of St. Peter, built the Chigi Chapel of the Church of Santa Maria del Popolo in Rome. However, unprecedented fame brought him painting.

Unlike Leonardo, Raphael belonged entirely to his time. There is nothing strange, mysterious or mysterious in his works. Everything is clear and transparent in them, everything is beautiful and perfect. He embodied the positive ideal with the greatest force beautiful person. A life-affirming beginning reigns in his work.

The main theme of his work was the theme of the Madonna, which found in him an unsurpassed, ideal embodiment. It was to her that Raphael dedicated one of his early works - “Madonna Conestabile”, where the Madonna is depicted with a book that the baby leafs through. Already in this canvas important artistic principles great artist. The Madonna is devoid of holiness, she expresses not only maternal love, but embodies the ideal of a beautiful person. Everything in the picture is marked by perfection: the composition. colors, figures, landscape.

This canvas was followed by a whole series of variations on the same theme - “Madonna with a goldfinch”, “ beautiful gardener". "Madonna among greenery", "Madonna with a beardless Joseph", "Madonna under a canopy". A. Benois defined these variations as "enchanting picturesque sonnets." All of them elevate and idealize a person, glorify beauty, harmony and grace.

After a break, when Raphael was busy with frescoes, he again returns to the theme of the Madonna. In some of her images, he seems to vary the previously found models. These, in particular, are "Madonna Alba" and "Madonna in the Chair", the composition of which is subject to a round frame. At the same time, he creates new types of images of the Madonna.

The pinnacle in the development of the theme of the Mother of God was " Sistine Madonna". which has become a real hymn to the physical and spiritual perfection of man. Unlike all other Madonnas, the Sistine expresses an inexhaustible human sense. It combines earthly and heavenly, simple and sublime, close and inaccessible. You can read everything on her face human feelings: tenderness, timidity, anxiety, confidence, severity, dignity, greatness.

Chief among them, according to Winckelmann, are "noble simplicity and calm grandeur." Measure, balance and harmony reign in the picture. It is distinguished by smooth and rounded lines, soft and melodic pattern, richness and juiciness of color. The Madonna herself exudes energy and movement. With this work, Raphael created the most sublime and poetic image of the Madonna in the art of the Renaissance.

Among the outstanding creations of Raphael are the paintings of the private papal chambers (stanzas) in the Vatican, dedicated to biblical subjects, as well as philosophy, art and jurisprudence.

Fresco " Athenian school"depicts a collection of philosophers and scientists of Antiquity. In the center of it are the majestic figures of Plato and Aristotle, and on the sides of them are the ancient sages and scientists.

The fresco "Parnassus" represents Apollo and the Muses surrounded by the great poets of antiquity and the Italian Renaissance. All the murals are marked by the highest mastery of composition, bright decorativeness, natural poses and gestures of the characters.

Raphael (actually Raffaello Santi or Sanzio, Raffaello Santi, Sanzio) (March 26 or 28, 1483, Urbino - April 6, 1520, Rome), italian painter and architect.

Raphael, son of the painter Giovanni Santi, spent his early years in Urbino. In the years 1500-1504, Raphael, according to Vasari, studied with the artist Perugino in Perugia.

From 1504, Raphael worked in Florence, where he got acquainted with the work of Leonardo da Vinci and Fra Bartolommeo, studied anatomy and scientific perspective.
Moving to Florence played a huge role in creative development Raphael. Of paramount importance for the artist was familiarity with the method of the great Leonardo da Vinci.
Following Leonardo, Rafael began to work a lot from nature, studying anatomy, the mechanics of movements, complex postures and angles, looking for compact, rhythmically balanced compositional formulas.
The numerous images of the Madonnas he created in Florence brought the young artist all-Italian fame.
Raphael received an invitation from Pope Julius II to Rome, where he was able to get to know the ancient monuments better, took part in archaeological excavations. Having moved to Rome, the 26-year-old master receives the position of "artist of the Apostolic See" and the commission to paint the main chambers Vatican Palace, from 1514 directs the construction of St. Peter's Cathedral, works in the field of church and palace architecture, in 1515 he is appointed Commissioner for Antiquities, is responsible for the study and protection ancient monuments, archaeological excavations. Fulfilling the order of the pope, Raphael created murals in the halls of the Vatican, glorifying the ideals of freedom and earthly happiness of a person, the limitlessness of his physical and spiritual capabilities.

The painting by Rafael Santi "Madonna Conestabile" was created by the artist at the age of twenty.

In this picture, the young artist Raphael created his first remarkable incarnation of the image of the Madonna, which occupied an exceptionally important place in his art. The image of a young beautiful mother, generally so popular in Renaissance art, is especially close to Raphael, in whose talent there was a lot of softness and lyricism.

Unlike the masters of the 15th century, in the painting of the young artist Rafael Santi, new qualities have emerged, when the harmonic compositional structure does not constrain images, but, on the contrary, is perceived as necessary condition the feeling of naturalness and freedom that they generate.

holy family 1507-1508 years. Alte Pinakothek, Munich.

Painting by artist Raphael Santi "The Holy Family" Kanidzhani.

The customer of the work is Domenico Canigianini from Florence. In the painting "The Holy Family" great painter Renaissance Raphael Santi depicted in a classical way biblical history — holy family- Virgin Mary, Joseph, baby Jesus Christ together with Saint Elizabeth and baby John the Baptist.

However, only in Rome did Raphael overcome the dryness and some stiffness of his early portraits. It was in Rome that the brilliant talent of Raphael the portrait painter reached maturity.

In the “Madonnas” of Raphael of the Roman period, the idyllic mood of his early works is replaced by the re-creation of deeper human, maternal feelings, as full of dignity and spiritual purity, the intercessor of humanity is Mary in the most famous work of Raphael - “The Sistine Madonna”.

Rafael Santi's painting "The Sistine Madonna" was originally created by the great painter as an altarpiece for the church of San Sisto (St. Sixtus) in Piacenza.

In the painting, the artist depicts the Virgin Mary with the baby Christ, Pope Sixtus II and Saint Barbara. The painting "Sistine Madonna" is one of the most famous works of world art.

How was the image of the Madonna created? Was there for him real prototype? In this regard, a number of ancient legends are associated with the Dresden painting. Researchers find in the facial features of the Madonna a resemblance to the model of one of Raphael's female portraits - the so-called "Lady in the Veil". But in resolving this issue, first of all, one should take into account the well-known statement of Raphael himself from a letter to his friend Baldassare Castiglione that in creating the image of a perfect female beauty he is guided by a certain idea, which arises on the basis of many impressions from the beauties seen by the artist in his life. In other words, the basis of the creative method of the painter Raphael Santi is the selection and synthesis of observations of reality.

AT last years Rafael's life was so overloaded with orders that he entrusted the execution of many of them to his students and assistants (Giulio Romano, Giovanni da Udine, Perino del Vaga, Francesco Penny and others), usually limiting himself to general supervision of the work.

Raphael had a great influence on the subsequent development of Italian and European painting, becoming, along with the masters of antiquity, the highest example of artistic excellence. The art of Raphael, which had a huge impact on European painting XVI-XIX and, partly, the XX centuries, for centuries retained for artists and viewers the value of an indisputable artistic authority and model.

In the last years of his work, his students created huge cardboards on biblical themes with episodes from the life of the apostles based on the artist's drawings. Based on these cardboards, the Brussels masters had to perform monumental tapestries, which were intended for decoration. Sistine Chapel on holidays.

Paintings by Raphael Santi

The painting by Rafael Santi "Angel" was created by the artist at the age of 17-18 at the very beginning of the 16th century.

This magnificent early work by the young artist is part or fragment of a Baronci altarpiece that was damaged by the 1789 earthquake. The altarpiece "The Coronation of Blessed Nicholas of Tolentino, the Conqueror of Satan" was commissioned by Andrea Baronci for his home chapel of the Church of San Agostinho in Citta de Castello. In addition to a fragment of the painting "Angel", three more parts of the altar have been preserved: "The Most High-Creator" and " Holy Virgin Maria” in the Capodimonte Museum (Naples) and another fragment “Angel” in the Louvre (Paris).

The painting "Madonna of the Granduca" was painted by the artist Rafael Santi after moving to Florence.

Numerous images of Madonnas created by the young artist in Florence (“Madonna Granduk”, “Madonna with a Goldfinch”, “Madonna in Greenery”, “Madonna with the Christ Child and John the Baptist” or “Beautiful Gardener” and others) brought Rafael Santi all-Italian fame.

The painting "Dream of a Knight" was painted by the artist Rafael Santi in the early years of his work.

The painting is from the heritage of Borghese, probably paired with another work by the artist "Three Graces". These paintings - "The Dream of a Knight" and "Three Graces" - are almost miniature compositions in size.

The theme of the "Dream of a Knight" is a kind of refraction of the ancient myth of Hercules at the crossroads between the allegorical incarnations of Valor and Delight. Near the young knight, depicted sleeping in a beautiful landscape, are two young women. One of them, in a strict attire, offers him a sword and a book, the other - a branch with flowers.

In the painting "Three Graces", the very compositional motif of three naked female figures is borrowed, apparently, from an antique cameo. And although there is still a lot of uncertainty in these works of the artist (“Three Graces” and “The Dream of a Knight”), they attract with their naive charm and poetic purity. Already here, some of the features inherent in Raphael's talent were revealed - the poetic nature of the images, the sense of rhythm and the soft melodiousness of the lines.

The altar painting by Rafael Santi "Madonna of Ansidei" was painted by the artist in Florence; the young painter was not yet 25 years old.

Unicorn, a mythical animal with the body of a bull, horse or goat and one long, straight horn on its forehead.

The unicorn is a symbol of purity and virginity. According to legend, only an innocent girl can tame a ferocious unicorn. The painting "Lady with a Unicorn" was painted by Rafael Santi based on the popular during the Renaissance and Mannerism mythological plot used by many artists in their paintings.

The painting "Lady with a Unicorn" was badly damaged in the past, and has now been partially restored.

Painting by Raphael Santi "Madonna in the Green" or "Mary with the Child and John the Baptist".

In Florence, Raphael created the Madonna cycle, indicating the onset of a new stage in his work. Belonging to the most famous of them, “Madonna in the Green” (Vienna, Museum), “Madonna with a Goldfinch” (Uffizi) and “Madonna the Gardener” (Louvre) are some kind of variants of a common motif - images of a beautiful young mother with the Christ child and little John the Baptist in the background of the landscape. These are also variants of the same theme - the theme maternal love, light and serene.

Altar painting by Raphael Santi "Madonna di Foligno".

In the 1510s, Raphael worked a lot in the field of altar composition. A number of his works of this kind, among which the "Madonna di Foligno" should be mentioned, lead us to greatest creation his easel painting- The Sistine Madonna. This picture was created in 1515-1519 for the church of St. Sixtus in Piacenza and is now in the Dresden Art Gallery.

The painting “Madonna di Foligno” in its compositional structure is similar to the famous “Sistine Madonna”, with the only difference being that in the painting “Madonna di Foligno” there are more characters and the image of the Madonna is distinguished by a kind of internal isolation - her gaze is occupied with her child - the Christ child .

Rafael Santi's painting "Madonna del Impannata" was created by the great painter almost at the same time as the famous "Sistine Madonna".

In the painting, the artist depicts the Virgin Mary with the children Christ and John the Baptist, Saint Elizabeth and Saint Catherine. The painting "Madonna del Impannata" testifies to the further improvement of the artist's style, the complication of images in comparison with the soft lyrical images of his Florentine Madonnas.

The mid-1510s were the time of Raphael's finest portrait work.

Castiglione, Count Baldassare (Castiglione; 1478-1526) - Italian diplomat and writer. Born near Mantua, served at various Italian courts, was the ambassador of the Duke of Urbino in the 1500s to Henry VII of England, from 1507 in France to King Louis XII. In 1525, already at a fairly respectable age, he was sent as papal nuncio to Spain.

In this portrait, Raphael showed himself to be an outstanding colorist, able to feel color in its complex shades and tonal transitions. The portrait of the "Lady in the Veil" differs from the portrait of Baldassare Castiglione with remarkable coloristic merits.

Researchers of the artist Rafael Santi and historians of Renaissance painting find in the features of the model of this female portrait Raphael's resemblance to the face of the Virgin Mary in his famous painting "The Sistine Madonna".

Joanna of Aragon 1518 year. Louvre Museum, Paris.

The customer of the painting is Cardinal Bibbiena, writer and secretary under Pope Leo X; the painting was intended as a gift to the French king Francis I. The portrait was only begun by the artist, and it is not known for certain which of his students (Giulio Romano, Francesco Penny or Perino del Vaga) completed.

Joanna of Aragon (? -1577) - the daughter of the Neapolitan king Federigo (later deposed), the wife of Ascanio, Prince Taliakosso, famous for her beauty.

The extraordinary beauty of Joanna of Aragon was sung by contemporary poets in a number of poetic dedications, the collection of which made up a whole volume published in Venice.

The painting by the artist depicts classic version biblical chapter from the Revelation of John the Theologian or the Apocalypse.
“And there was a war in heaven: Michael and his angels fought against the dragon, and the dragon and his angels fought against them, but they did not stand, and there was no longer a place for them in heaven. And the great dragon was cast out, the ancient serpent, called the devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world; he was cast out to the earth, and his angels were cast out with him...

Frescoes by Raphael

The fresco of the artist Rafael Santi "Adam and Eve" has another name - "The Fall".

The size of the fresco is 120 x 105 cm. Raphael painted the fresco "Adam and Eve" on the ceiling of the pontiff's chambers.

The fresco of the artist Raphael Santi "The School of Athens" has another name - "Philosophical Conversations". The size of the fresco, the length of the base is 770 cm. After moving to Rome in 1508, Raphael was entrusted with painting the pope's apartments - the so-called stanzas (that is, rooms), which include three rooms on the second floor of the Vatican Palace and the hall adjacent to them. The general ideological program of the fresco cycles in the stanzas, according to the plan of the customers, was supposed to serve to glorify the authority catholic church and its head, the Roman high priest.

Along with allegorical and biblical images, episodes from the history of the papacy are depicted in separate frescoes; portrait images of Julius II and his successor Leo X are included in some compositions.

The customer for the painting “The Triumph of Galatea” is Agostino Chigi, a banker from Siena; the fresco was painted by the artist in the banquet hall of the villa.

The fresco by Raphael Santi "The Triumph of Galatea" depicts the beautiful Galatea moving swiftly through the waves on a shell pulled by dolphins, surrounded by newts and naiads.

In one of the first frescoes made by Raphael - "Disputation", which depicts a conversation about the sacrament of the sacrament, cult motifs were most affected. The very symbol of communion - the host (wafer) is installed on the altar in the center of the composition. The action takes place in two planes - on earth and in heaven. Below, on a stepped elevation, the church fathers, popes, prelates, clergymen, elders and youths settled down on both sides of the altar.

Among other participants here you can recognize Dante, Savonarola, the pious monk-painter Fra Beato Angelico. Above the whole mass of figures in the lower part of the fresco, like a heavenly vision, the personification of the trinity appears: God the Father, below him, in a halo of golden rays, is Christ with the Mother of God and John the Baptist, even lower, as if marking the geometric center of the fresco, is a dove in sphere, a symbol of the holy spirit, and on the sides on the soaring clouds sit the apostles. And all this huge number of figures, with such a complex compositional design, is distributed with such art that the fresco leaves an impression of amazing clarity and beauty.

Prophet Isaiah 1511-1512 years. San Agostinho, Rome.

The fresco by Raphael depicts the great biblical prophet of the Old Testament at the moment of revelation about the coming of the Messiah. Isaiah (9th century BC), Hebrew prophet, zealous champion of the religion of Yahweh and denouncer of idolatry. His name is bible book prophet Isaiah.

One of the four great Old Testament prophets. For Christians, the prophecy of Isaiah about the Messiah (Emmanuel; ch. 7, 9 - “... behold, the Virgin will take in the womb, and give birth to a Son, and they will call his name: Immanuel”) is of particular importance. The memory of the prophet is honored in Orthodox Church 9 (May 22), in the Catholic - July 6.

Frescoes and latest paintings Raphael

A very strong impression is made by the fresco “The Exposition of the Apostle Peter from the Prison”, which depicts the miraculous release of the Apostle Peter from the prison by an angel (a hint at the release of Pope Leo X from French captivity when he was papal legate).

On the plafonds of the papal apartments - the station della Senyatura, Raphael painted the frescoes "The Fall", "The Victory of Apollo over Marsyas", "Astronomy" and a fresco on the famous Old Testament story "The Judgment of Solomon".
It is difficult to find any other artistic ensemble in the history of art that would give the impression of such figurative saturation in terms of ideological and pictorial-decorative as Raphael's Vatican stanzas. Walls covered with multi-figure frescoes, vaulted ceilings with the richest gilding decor, with fresco and mosaic inserts, floor beautiful pattern- all this could create the impression of congestion, if it were not for the high order inherent in the overall design of Rafael Santi, which brings the necessary clarity and visibility into this complex artistic complex.

Until the last years of his life, Rafael devoted great attention monumental painting. One of the largest works of the artist was the painting of the Villa Farnesina, which belonged to the richest Roman banker Chigi.

In the early 10s of the 16th century, Raphael executed in the main hall of this villa the fresco "The Triumph of Galatea", which belongs to his best works.

Myths about Princess Psyche tell about the desire human soul merge with love. For her indescribable beauty, people revered Psyche more than Aphrodite. According to one version, the jealous goddess sent her son, the deity of love, Cupid, to arouse in the girl a passion for the ugliest of people, however, when he saw the beauty, the young man lost his head and forgot about his mother's order. Having become the husband of Psyche, he did not allow her to look at him. She, burning with curiosity, lit a lamp at night and looked at her husband, not noticing a hot drop of oil that fell on his skin, and Cupid disappeared. In the end, by the will of Zeus, the lovers united. Apuleius in the Metamorphoses retells the myth of romantic story Cupid and Psyche; wanderings of the human soul yearning to meet its love.

The painting depicts Fornarina, beloved of Rafael Santi, whose real name is Margherita Luti. The real name of Fornarina was established by the researcher Antonio Valeri, who discovered it in a manuscript from the Florentine library and in the list of nuns of a monastery, where the novice was designated as the widow of the artist Raphael.

Fornarina is the legendary lover and model of Raphael, whose real name is Margherita Luti. According to many art critics of the Renaissance and historians of the artist's work, Fornarina is depicted in two famous paintings by Rafael Santi - "Fornarina" and "Lady in a Veil". It is also believed that Fornarina, in all likelihood, served as a model for the creation of the image of the Virgin Mary in the painting "The Sistine Madonna", as well as some other female images of Raphael.

Transfiguration of Christ 1519-1520 years. Pinacoteca Vatican, Rome.

Initially, the picture was created as an altarpiece cathedral in Narbonne, by order of Cardinal Giulio Medici, Bishop of Narbonne. To the greatest extent, the contradictions of the last years of Raphael's work were reflected in the huge altar composition "The Transfiguration of Christ" - it was completed after the death of Raphael by Giulio Romano.

This picture is divided into two parts. The upper part shows the actual transformation - this more harmonious part of the picture was made by Raphael himself. Below are the apostles trying to heal a demon-possessed boy.

It was the altar painting by Raphael Santi "The Transfiguration of Christ" that became for centuries an indisputable model for painters of the academic direction.
Raphael died in 1520. His premature death was unexpected and made a deep impression on contemporaries.

Rafael Santi deserves a place in the row the greatest masters era of the High Renaissance.

"Carrying the Cross" is one of the most tragic works of 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. The brush of the legendary artist diligently painted the 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 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 […]

Raphael was born in Urbino in 1483 in the family of the artist Giovanni Santi. The atmosphere of the city and the work of the father predetermined the fate of the boy.

In the 15th century, Urbino was one of the most important cities in Italy, a major Cultural Center. The rulers of Urbino, the Dukes of Montefeltro, are well-known patrons and collectors, they realized the importance of education and enlightenment, adored mathematics, cartography, philosophy, appreciated art and patronized artists.

Giovanni Santi was a court painter and poet. In his father's workshop, young Rafael got acquainted with the basics of painting, and, as Giorgio Vasari notes in his Biographies ..., "he helped his father paint the pictures that Giovanni created while living in Urbino."

The boy was not even ten years old when he lost his parents and was sent (at the request of his father) to Perugia as an apprentice in the workshop of Pietro Perugino.

Rafael is a fast learner, barely 17 years old when he is already mentioned as an independent artist, creating works for his first clients. This period includes a drawing-self-portrait of the artist. Very little time will pass, and Raphael will become an unsurpassed portrait painter, able to convey not only a striking resemblance, but also the individuality of his models with the help of color, light, and details. But for now, Rafael is a modest student in the workshop of a great artist.

2. Betrothal of the Virgin Mary, 1504
Pinacoteca Brera, Milan

Pietro Perugino, who became the teacher of Raphael, is the star of the Umbrian school of painting, one of the most sought-after artists of his time. His style is melodic and poetic, pleasing to the eye and imbued with a special lyrical mood. The images of Perugino are beautiful and sweet. It is characterized by decorativeness and balance. In an atmosphere of harmony and serenity - all of Perugino.

Raphael, subtle and receptive, so accurately managed to capture the very essence of the art of his teacher that his first works could be mistaken for the masterpieces of the master Perugino.

In 1504, Raphael creates the "Betrothal of the Virgin Mary", a few used to picture with the same plot (the wedding of Mary and Joseph) wrote Perugino.

Before us wedding ceremony: Joseph, in the presence of a priest, hands Mary a wedding ring.

Raphael, following the teacher, places the heroes in an ideal space created according to the laws of linear perspective. Behind rises the majestic, also "ideal" temple. However, with his Betrothal, the 21-year-old student surpasses his teacher in the art of depicting people. Look at the solemn static character of Perugino and the variety of characters and movements in Raphael. Agree, the heroes of Raphael are more like real people.

It is also extremely important that the predecessors of Raphael, who were fluent in the techniques of constructing perspective, lined up the characters both in the line and in the foreground and in the background. Raphael depicts those present at wedding celebration more realistic, chaotic crowd.

It was the "Betrothal of the Virgin Mary" that was the result of training in the workshop of Pietro Perugino. The impulsive young man was already attracted by blooming Florence ...

3. Self-portrait, 1506
Uffizi Gallery, Florence

Rumors are circulating in Italy that something unusual is going on in Florence. In the main hall of the city council building, Michelangelo and Leonardo compete in the art of fresco. Rafael decides to be at the scene without fail.

In 1504, Raphael arrives in Florence, in his hands letter of recommendation from his patroness, Giovanna Feltria della Rovere, to the ruler of the Republic of Florence, Pier Soderini. Imagine how Raphael goes to the Palazzo Vecchio and stops, amazed, in Piazza della Signoria. In front of him greatest work art - David, a sculpture of unprecedented beauty and skill. Raphael is amazed, he can not wait to meet Michelangelo.

He will live in Florence for the next four years. This stage will be for him a time of hard work, discipline and close study of the art of Michelangelo and Leonardo. His unique style was born. Undoubtedly, Raphael would not have become Raphael without these difficult years of hard work for him.

Later, Vasari would write: “The techniques that he saw in the works of Leonardo and Michelangelo made him work even harder to extract from them unprecedented benefits for his art and his manner.”

The 23-year-old artist paints his self-portrait, still imbued with the lyrical features of Umbrian painting. This image will survive the ages. It is precisely such, gentle, impulsive and forever young, that Raphael will forever remain for posterity.

4. Portraits of Agnolo Doni and Maddalena Strozzi, 1506
Palazzo Pitti, Florence

Soft disposition, impeccable manners and amazing ease of communication allowed Raphael to seek the favor of influential patrons and wealthy customers, friendship with the most different people and popularity among women. He managed to win over even Michelangelo and Leonardo, each of whom nature endowed with a great gift and such a difficult character that many preferred to stay away from them.

One of the important customers for Raphael in his Florentine period was Agnolo Doni, a wealthy cloth merchant, philanthropist and art collector. In honor of the wedding with Maddalena Strozzi, he commissions a pair portrait. Only a few could afford such a luxury.

For Raphael the portrait painter, it was important not only to convey the resemblance, but also the character. One glance at the portrait of Agnolo Doni is enough, and it becomes clear that we have before us an influential and strong person, his imperious pose and a smart, calm look speak of this. He is dressed soundly and modestly, does not strive for ostentatious luxury. Most likely, his interests are diverse: he is attracted by trade, politics, art, literature, science. He is the embodiment perfect person Renaissance, but at the same time it is not a generalized collective image, but a living Florentine recognizable by his contemporaries.

Rafael achieves the same effect in the image of Maddalena Strozzi. On the one hand, we have a wealthy townswoman, proud and arrogant, on the other, a young woman, a bride. An elegant tree is designed to emphasize the soft nature of the newlywed. The pendant around Maddalena's neck, possibly Agnolo's wedding gift, has a special meaning: the precious stones point to vitality, a large pearl - for the purity and purity of the bride.

At this time, Raphael is looking for himself and his style, he is fascinated by the Mona Lisa, which Leonardo recently completed. He gives his Maddalena a similar pose and enthusiastically looks for his own ways to fill the portrait with magnetism. Raphael would become a master of the psychological portrait, but later, during his heyday in Rome.

5. Silent (La Muta), 1507
Marche National Gallery, Urbino

This chamber portrait is really unusual. The artist does not give any explicit hints, and the fact that we have a woman in front of us, deprived of the ability to speak, follows only from the name. The most striking thing about this portrait is the feeling that comes from it. The heroine's muteness is felt in her facial expression, in her eyes, in her inactive, tightly compressed lips. This is the outstanding talent of Raphael: he is not only familiar with the smallest features and shades of human nature, but is also able to accurately convey his knowledge and observations in the language of painting.

6. Madonna with a goldfinch, 1507

Rafael lost his mother in early childhood. Thin and vulnerable, all his life he felt an urgent need for maternal love and tenderness. And of course, this is reflected in his art. The Madonna and Child is one of the most important subjects for Raphael. He will constantly explore the relationship between mother and child. In Florence, for 4 years, he will write more than 20 paintings on the theme of "Madonna and Child". From static, imbued with Peruginian mood (such is his Granduka Madonna, which you can see at the exhibition in Pushkin Museum), to mature, filled with feelings and vitality.

One of these paintings is Madonna with a Goldfinch. Before us is the Virgin Mary, the baby Jesus and John the Baptist, passing him a goldfinch, a symbol of the terrible trials of the Savior.

An interesting story related by Giorgio Vasari is connected with the “Madonna with the Goldfinch”: “ Greatest friendship connected Raphael and Lorenzo Nazi, for whom, having just married these days, he painted a picture depicting the infant Christ standing at the knees of the Mother of God, and the young St. John cheerfully holding out a bird to him, to the greatest joy and to the greatest pleasure of both another. Both of them form a group full of a kind of childish simplicity and at the same time of deep feeling, not to mention the fact that they are so well done in color and so carefully painted that they seem to be made of living flesh, and not made with paint and drawing. The same applies to the Mother of God with her gracious and truly divine expression on her face, and in general - both the meadow and the oak forest, and everything else in this work is extremely beautiful. This picture was kept by Lorenzo Nazi during his lifetime with the greatest reverence, both in memory of Raphael, who was his closest friend, and for the sake of the dignity and perfection of the work itself, which, however, almost perished on November 17, 1548, when from the collapse of Mount San George collapsed along with neighboring houses and the house of Lorenzo himself. The son of the aforementioned Lorenzo and the greatest connoisseur of art, having discovered parts of the picture in the rubbish of the ruins, ordered to reunite them as best as possible.

7. School of Athens, 1509-1510
Apostolic Palace, Vatican

In 1508, Raphael arrives in Rome at the invitation of Pope Julius II and again finds himself in the center of incredible events: the great Michelangelo paints the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel, Bramante, the chief papal architect, rebuilds St. Peter's Cathedral, and prominent artists of their time work in the Stanzas (Pope's rooms). : Lorenzo Lotto, Peruzzi, Sodoma, Bramantino, and Raphael's former teacher, Pietro Perugino.

Rumors about divine talent the young artist reached Julius II, who intended to embellish his reign at all costs. outstanding works art. Wanting to test Raphael, the Pope instructed him to take care of the room intended for his personal library. Having started work, Raphael impressed Julius II so much that he ordered to expel all the artists who worked in other rooms, destroy the frescoes they created and entrust the entire project to only 25-year-old Raphael. Thus began the history of the Raphael Stations.

The most famous fresco is considered to be the “School of Athens”, which occupies the wall of Stanza della Senyatura, reserved for the collection of books on philosophy.

"School of Athens" - crowd scene, a collection of philosophers, sages and pundits of all times in the Ideal Temple of Wisdom (the architectural space in which the characters are assembled echoes the design of St. Peter's Cathedral, which at this very time is being built according to Bramante's project). In the center of the fresco is Plato and Archimedes. The first one points to the sky, expressing the essence of his idealistic philosophy, the second - to the ground, emphasizing the importance natural sciences and knowledge.

In addition, the “School of Athens” is a meeting place for Diogenes, Socrates, Pythagoras, Heraclitus, Euclid, Epicurus, Zoroaster and other prominent figures.

It is also interesting that the three most important creators of the High Renaissance are also depicted in the collection of the “School of Athens”. If you look closely, then in Plato you will recognize Leonardo da Vinci, in the mighty titan Heraclitus, who sits on the steps, leaning on a block of marble - Michelangelo, look for Raphael himself second from the right in the first row.

Over the years of work on the Stanzas, Raphael becomes a celebrity, the brightest star in Rome. After the death of Bramante, Raphael was appointed chief architect of St. Peter's and chief curator of Roman antiquities. He is surrounded by patrons, customers, students, friends and beautiful women.

8. Portrait of Baldassare Castiglione, 1514-1515
Louvre, Paris

In Rome, Raphael paints a portrait of his friend and patron Baldassare Castiglione. Take a look at this extraordinary face and imagine how far the current manner of the artist is from the sweet style of Perugino, how deftly the artist managed to melt the techniques of Leonardo and Michelangelo, creating his own unique handwriting!

Count Baldassare Castiglione - philosopher, poet, diplomat, one of the most educated people of his time. In addition, he was known for his gentleness, meekness and poise of character. It was these qualities, according to Raphael himself, that distinguished the ideal man of the Renaissance.

A friendly, slightly thoughtful mature man is looking at us from the picture. He is dressed modestly, but with great taste. His face is calm and harmonious, his gaze is penetrating and open. For all its external simplicity, this portrait is endowed with a special magnetism and psychological depth, comparable to the effect that the image of Mona Lisa produces on the audience.

9. Fornarina, 1518-1519 (left)
Palazzo Barberini, Rome

About the personal life of Rafael went the most various rumors. According to some of them, the artist was a libertine and died at the age of 37 from syphilis, according to others, less scandalous, from a fever. In any case, Raphael was constantly in the center of female attention, and one can only guess what women of what origin and occupation posed for the images of his gentle madonnas and nymphs.

For a long time, the identity of the black-eyed beauty from the Fornarin portrait was unknown. Vasari suggests that this is a portrait of "... a woman whom he loved very much until his death, and with whom he painted a portrait so beautiful that she was all alive on him."

A few years earlier, Fornarina posed for Raphael for another masterpiece, The Veiled Lady. If you look closely, the headdresses of both Fornarina and the Veiled Lady are held together by the same hairpin, possibly a gift from Raphael.

According to legend, Rafael met Fornarina, the daughter of a baker (fornarina - from the Italian “bakery”), when he was working on the frescoes of the Villa Farnesina. Then the beauty, it seems, was going to get married, but Raphael bought her from her father and settled in the house, where he met with her until death separated them. There were rumors that it was Fornarina who killed Raphael. It was also said that after his death she went to a monastery out of grief, or that she led such a depraved life that she was forcibly tonsured a nun.

10. Sistine Madonna, 1513-1514
Gallery of Old Masters, Dresden

« One picture I wanted to be forever a spectator ... ”- wrote A. S. Pushkin about the most famous Madonna of Raphael.

It was in the "Sistine Madonna" that Raphael managed to reach the pinnacle of his skill. This picture is amazing. The open curtain shows us a heavenly vision: surrounded by a divine glow, the Virgin Mary descends to the people. She has the baby Jesus in her arms, in her face tenderness and anxiety. It seems that everything in this picture: hundreds of angelic faces, and the respectful gesture of St. Sixtus, and the humble figure of St. Barbara, and the heavy curtain - were created so that we could not take our eyes off the face of the Madonna for a second.

And of course, Raphael would not be Raphael if in beautiful image Maria would not have seen the features of his Fornarina.

Raphael died in Rome on April 6 (his birthday) 1520 at the age of 37 at the zenith of his fame.

Many centuries later, studying the art of Raphael, Pablo Picasso would say: “If Leonardo promised us paradise, then Raphael gave it to us!”

Raphael (Raffaello Santi) (1483 - 1520) - artist (painter, graphic artist), architect of the High Renaissance.

Biography of Raphael Santi

In 1500 he moved to Perugia and entered the workshop of Perugino to study painting. At the same time, Rafael completed the first independent works: the skills and abilities adopted from his father affected. The most successful of his early work- "Madonna of Conestabile" (1502-1503), "Dream of a Knight", "Saint George" (both 1504)

Feeling like an accomplished artist, Raphael left his teacher in 1504 and moved to Florence. Here he worked hard on creating the image of the Madonna, to whom he dedicated at least ten works (“Madonna with a Goldfinch”, 1506-1507; “The Entombment”, 1507, etc.).

At the end of 1508, Pope Julius II invited Raphael to move to Rome, where the artist spent the final period of his short life. At the court of the Pope, he received the position of "artist of the Apostolic See." The main place in his work is now occupied by the paintings of the front chambers (stations) of the Vatican Palace.

In Rome, Raphael reached perfection as a portrait painter and acquired the opportunity to realize his talent as an architect: from 1514 he supervised the construction of St. Peter's Cathedral.

In 1515, he was appointed commissioner for antiquities, which meant the study and protection of ancient monuments and control over excavations.

The most famous of Raphael's works, the Sistine Madonna (1515-1519), was also written in Rome. In the last years of life popular artist was so loaded with orders that he had to entrust their implementation to students, limiting himself to drawing up sketches and general control over the work.
Died April 6, 1520 in Rome.

The tragedy of the brilliant master was that he could not leave behind worthy successors.

However, the work of Raphael had a huge impact on the development of world painting.

The work of Rafael Santi

Raphael Santi (1483-1520) most fully embodied the idea of ​​the brightest and loftiest ideals of Renaissance humanism with the greatest completeness in his work. A younger contemporary of Leonardo, who lived a short, extremely rich life, Raphael synthesized the achievements of his predecessors and created his ideal of a beautiful, harmoniously developed person surrounded by majestic architecture or landscape.

As a seventeen-year-old youth, he discovers real creative maturity, creating a series of images full of harmony and spiritual clarity.

Delicate lyricism and subtle spirituality distinguish one of his early works - "Madonna Conestabile" (1502, St. Petersburg, Hermitage), an enlightened image of a young mother depicted against a transparent Umbrian landscape. The ability to freely arrange the figures in space, to connect them with each other and with the environment, is also manifested in the composition “The Betrothal of Mary” (1504, Milan, Brera Gallery). The spaciousness in the construction of the landscape, the harmony of architectural forms, the balance and integrity of all parts of the composition testify to the formation of Raphael as a master of the High Renaissance.

With his arrival in Florence, Raphael easily absorbs the most important achievements of the artists of the Florentine school with its pronounced plastic beginning and wide coverage of reality.

The content of his art remains lyrical theme light maternal love, to which he attaches special significance. She receives a more mature expression in such works as Madonna in the Green (1505, Vienna, Kunsthistorisches Museum), Madonna with a Goldfinch (Florence, Uffizi), The Beautiful Gardener (1507, Paris, Louvre). In essence, they all vary the same type of composition, composed of the figures of Mary, the infant Christ and the Baptist, forming pyramidal groups against the backdrop of a beautiful rural landscape in the spirit of the compositional techniques found earlier by Leonardo. The naturalness of the movements, the soft plasticity of the forms, the smoothness of the melodious lines, the beauty of the ideal type of the Madonna, the clarity and purity of the landscape backgrounds contribute to revealing the sublime poetry of the figurative structure of these compositions.

In 1508, Raphael was invited to work in Rome, at the court of Pope Julius II, an imperious, ambitious and energetic man who sought to increase the artistic treasures of his capital and attract the most talented cultural figures of that time to his service. At the beginning of the 16th century, Rome inspired hopes for the national unification of the country. The ideals of a national order created the ground for a creative upsurge, for the embodiment of advanced aspirations in art. Here, in close proximity to the heritage of antiquity, Raphael's talent flourishes and matures, acquiring new scope and traits of calm grandeur.

Raphael receives an order to paint the front rooms (the so-called stanzas) of the Vatican Palace. This work, which continued intermittently from 1509 to 1517, put Raphael among the greatest masters of Italian monumental art, confidently solving the problem of synthesis of architecture and Renaissance painting.

The gift of Raphael - a muralist and decorator - manifested itself in all its splendor when painting the Stanzi della Senyatura (printing room).

On the long walls of this room, covered with sailing vaults, the compositions "Disputation" and "The School of Athens" are placed, on the narrow ones - "Parnassus" and "Wisdom, Moderation and Strength", personifying the four areas of human spiritual activity: theology, philosophy, poetry and jurisprudence . The vault, divided into four parts, is decorated with allegorical figures that form a single decorative system with wall paintings. Thus, the entire space of the room turned out to be filled with painting.

Debate School of Athens Adam and Eve

Combining images in murals Christian religion and pagan mythology testified to the spread among the humanists of that time of the ideas of reconciliation of the Christian religion with ancient culture and about the unconditional victory of the secular principle over the church. Even in the "Dispute" (dispute of the church fathers about the sacrament), dedicated to the image of church leaders, among the participants in the dispute, one can recognize the poets and artists of Italy - Dante, Fra Beato Angelico and other painters and writers. The composition "The School of Athens" speaks of the triumph of humanistic ideas in Renaissance art, its connection with antiquity, glorifying the mind of a beautiful and strong man, ancient science and philosophy.

The painting is perceived as the embodiment of a dream of a brighter future.

From the depths of the enfilade of grandiose arched spans, a group of ancient thinkers emerges, in the center of which is the majestic gray-bearded Plato and the confident, inspired Aristotle, pointing to the ground with a gesture of his hand, the founders of idealistic and materialistic philosophy. Below, on the left at the stairs, Pythagoras bent over the book, surrounded by his students, on the right - Euclid, and here, at the very edge, Raphael depicted himself next to the painter Sodoma. This is a young man with a gentle, attractive face. All the characters of the fresco are united by the mood of high spiritual uplift and deep thought. They make up groups that are inseparable in their integrity and harmony, where each character exactly takes his place and where the architecture itself, in its strict regularity and majesty, helps to recreate the atmosphere of a high rise in creative thought.

The fresco "The Expulsion of Eliodor" in Stanza d'Eliodoro stands out with intense drama. The suddenness of the miracle happening - the expulsion of the robber of the temple by the heavenly rider - is conveyed by the swift diagonal of the main movement, using a light effect. Pope Julius II is depicted among the spectators watching the exile of Eliodor. This is an allusion to the events contemporary to Raphael - the expulsion of French troops from the Papal States.

The Roman period of Raphael's work is marked by high achievements in the field of portraiture.

Sharply characteristic portrait features acquire full of life characters of the "Mass in Bolsena" (frescoes in Stanza d'Eliodoro). To portrait genre Raphael also turned to easel painting, showing his originality here, revealing in the model the most characteristic and significant. He painted portraits of Pope Julius II (1511, Florence, Uffizi), Pope Leo X with Cardinal Ludovico dei Rossi and Giulio dei Medici (circa 1518, ibid) and other portrait paintings. important place in his art, the image of the Madonna continues to occupy, acquiring features of great grandeur, monumentality, confidence, strength. Such is the “Madonna della sedia” (“Madonna in the Chair”, 1516, Florence, Pitti Gallery) with its harmonious composition closed in a circle.

At the same time, Raphael created his greatest creation "Sistine Madonna"(1515-1519, Dresden, Art Gallery), intended for the church of St. Sixtus in Piacenza. Unlike the earlier, lighter in mood, lyrical Madonnas, this is a majestic image, full of deep meaning. The curtains parted from above on the sides reveal Mary, easily walking through the clouds, with a baby in her arms. Her gaze allows you to look into the world of her experiences. Seriously and sadly, she looks into the distance, as if foreseeing the tragic fate of her son. To the left of the Madonna is depicted Pope Sixtus, enthusiastically contemplating a miracle, to the right - Saint Barbara, reverently lowering her gaze. Below are two angels, looking up and, as it were, returning us to the main image - the Madonna and her childishly thoughtful baby.

The impeccable harmony and dynamic balance of the composition, the subtle rhythm of smooth linear outlines, the naturalness and freedom of movement make up irresistible force this whole, beautiful image.

The vital truth and traits of the ideal are combined with the spiritual purity of the complex tragic character of the Sistine Madonna. Some researchers found its prototype in the features of the “Lady in the Veil” (circa 1513, Florence, Pitti Gallery), but Raphael himself wrote in a letter to his friend Castiglione that his creative method was based on the principle of selection and generalization of life observations: “In order to in order to write a beauty, I need to see many beauties, but due to a lack ... in beautiful women I use some idea that comes to my mind. Thus, in reality, the artist finds features that correspond to his ideal, which rises above the accidental and transient.

Raphael died at the age of thirty-seven, leaving unfinished paintings of the Villa Farnesina, the Vatican loggias and a number of other works completed on cardboard and drawings by his students. The free, graceful, unconstrained drawings of Raphael put forward their creator among the largest draftsmen in the world. His work in architecture and applied arts testify to him as a multi-talented figure of the High Renaissance, who won great fame among his contemporaries. The very name of Raphael later turned into common name the ideal artist.

Numerous Italian students and followers of Raphael erected the creative method of the teacher into an indisputable dogma, which contributed to the spread of imitation in Italian art and foreshadowed an impending crisis of humanism.

• Raphael Santi was born in the family of a court poet and artist, and he himself was a favorite painter of those in power, easily and comfortably feeling in a secular society. However, he was of low birth. He was orphaned at the age of 11, and his guardian sued his stepmother for years over the family property.
• The famous painter wrote the “Sistine Madonna” by order of the “black monks” - the Benedictines. He created his masterpiece on a huge canvas, alone, without the participation of students or assistants.
• The art historian Vasari, and after him other biographers of Raphael, say that the baker's daughter Margarita Luti, known as Fornarina, is embodied in the features of many "Madonnas". Some consider her a prudent debauchee, others - an honest lover, because of which the artist even refused to marry a woman of noble birth. But many art historians believe that all this is a romantic myth about love, and true relationship Raphael with women are not known to anyone.
• The painting of the artist, called "Fornarina", depicting a model in a semi-nude form, became the object of passionate discussions among physicians. A bluish patch on the model's chest led to speculation that the model had cancer.
• The same Vasari conveys gossip that, being a papal painter, the artist actually did not believe in either God or the devil. This is unlikely, although the statement of one of the popes of that time is quite famous: “How much profit this fairy tale about Christ brought us!”

Bibliography

• Toynes Christoph. Raphael. Taschen. 2005
• Makhov A. Rafael. Young guard. 2011. (Life of wonderful people)
• Eliasberg N. E. Rafael. - M.: Art, 1961. - 56, p. - 20,000 copies. (reg.)
• Stam S.M. Florentine Madonnas of Raphael: (Questions of ideological content). - Saratov: Publishing House of Saratov University, 1982. - 80 p. - 60,000 copies.

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