Raphael Santi

High Renaissance artist 

Raphael Santy was an Italian painter and architect of the High Renaissance. His work is admired for its clarity of form, ease of composition, and visual achievement of the Neoplatonic ideal of human grandeur. Together with Michelangelo and Leonardo da Vinci, he forms the traditional trinity of great masters of that period.

Great masterpieces

Santi is most famous for his frescoes in the Vatican, which earned him the nickname "the divine," and his classicizing paintings based on Roman sculpture. He is also known for his portraits, both painted and drawn, of contemporary figures and classical subjects. His drawings, particularly landscape sketches done from nature, are praised for their subtlety and realism.

Raphael created astounding works of art in almost every style of the Renaissance period including frescoes, paintings and drawings which were commissioned by popes and other high-ranking church officials.  Among his works are The Ecstasy of St. Cecilia, La Donna Velata, The Sistine Madonna, Portrait of Baldassare Castiglione, School of Athens. He died at a relatively young age of 37, but left behind a huge body of work that has been admired by art lovers around the world for centuries. He also decorated churches in Rome and influenced generations to come, like Caravaggio and Baroque painters like Rubens. 

Treasure of the Italian art

The father of the Renaissance, Raphael was a true genius. Whether you’re looking at his paintings, like the Stanza Della Segnatura in the Vatican or architecture like St Peter’s Basilica, Raphael was a master of composition, craftsmanship and style. Raphael was one of the most influential artists in history. His exceptional work changed the course of Italian art and inspired artists such as Manet and Picasso.