RAPHAEL SANTI, sHiete (1433 1520). The most celebrated painter of modern times, also noted as an architect. The modern Italian form of his name is Raffaello, and his family name is often written Sanzio. He was burn at Urbino, on Good Friday (March 28th), 1483, according to Vasari, but according to the inscription upon his tomb by Cardinal Bembo, on April 6th. His father, Giovanni Santi (q.v.), was a painter of some merit and a poet, and his mother, Magia, was the daughter of Battista Ciarla, a merchant of Urbino. Of Raphael's youth almost nothing is known. His mother died in 1491, and he came under the care of a young stepmother, whom he appeared in a lawsuit after his father's death in 1494. Ile probably received a good education, and grew up in the refined and artistic atmosphere of the Court of Urbino. Like his father, he stood in high favor with Duke Guidobaldo and his wife, and especially with Giovanna Belle Rovere, the Duke's sister. He acquired the rudiments of painting from his father, inheriting from him a genial eclecticism, but, by reason of the father's early death, his real instruction began with an other master. According to the former view, based upon Vasari, he studied with Perugino at Perugia; but Perugino's movements before 1499 render this view extremely unlikely. Morelli has shown that Raphael's earliest works resemble those of Timoteo Viti (q.v.), an Um brian painter, who was a disciple of Francia at Bologna, and resided at Urbino between 1495 and 1500, of whom we also know that he was a friend of Raphael. As Perugino did not return to c until 1499-1500, it was probably then that Raphael became his assistant. lie imitated his master so closely that their works of this period are very difficult to distinguish. He was also much influenced by Pinturicchio, though it is doubtful whether he assisted him, as Vasari states, in the frescoes of the Cathedral of Siena. Very important for this early period is the so called Raphael's "Sketch Book" in the Academy of Venice, a collection of drawings by various Umbrian masters, which Morelli has shown are mainly by Pinturicchio, though a few are prob ably by Raphael after his designs.
All the works of Raphael up to the time of his removal to Florence in 1504 belong to his Um brian period. The earliest, according to Morelli, is a small "Saint Michael" in the Louvre, which also possesses "Apollo and Slarsyas" and "Saint George and the Dragon" of the same period. Best known of all is the charming "The Knight's Dream" (National Gallery. London), an alle gory, resembling the mythical vision of Her cules. These works closely resemble those of Timoteo Viti, in form and miniature-like execu tion, as well as in a delightful poetic sentiment., For Raphael's Madonnas of the Umbrian period, see :MADONNA.
Raphael's more ambitious works resemble Perugino's, except that with him everything is more refined and artistic, the space composition is better, the execution more careful and powerful. After the departure of Perugino in 1502 he appears as an independent master at Perugia in his "Coronation of the Virgin," now in the Vatican Gallery. He executed three im portant altarpieces in the neighboring Citta di Castello, two of which survive—one, a "Cruci fixion," being in the possession of Mr. Mond in London, the other, the famous "Sposalizio" (Mar riage of the Virgin), in the Brera, Milan. The latter is generally supposed to he a copy of the same subject by Perugino at Caen, though Berenson has lately pronounced the Caen picture a copy of Raphael's picture by Lo Spagna. Raphael's work is infinitely more refined and symmetrical, and is perhaps the most important of his Umbrian period. Morelli has justly as signed to Raphael the realistic portrait of Perugino in the Borghese Gallery,• Rome, for merly attributed to Holbein.
Equipped with a letter of introduction from the Duke of Urbino's sister to Soderini, the gout falonier of Florence, Raphael removed to that city in 1504. The opportunities for the develop ment of a young artist were at that time the most favorable imaginable. Florence was in an artistic ferment over the battle of the giants, Michelangelo and Leonardo, in their rival car toons for the Palazzo Vecchio (see IMIcum,