The Transfiguration

Raphael prints bring the calm beauty and perfect balance of the High Renaissance into your home. Raphael was an Italian painter and architect who, with Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo, forms the great trio of Renaissance masters, and his gentle Madonnas have been loved for five hundred years. Our collection of fine art prints includes The Sistine Madonna, Madonna del Granduca, The Transfiguration, his portraits, and drawings for the Vatican frescoes.

About Raphael

Raffaello Sanzio was born in Urbino in 1483. His father, Giovanni Santi, was court painter to the Duke of Urbino, and growing up at that cultured court gave Raphael the polished manners that served him all his life. His mother died when he was eight and his father when he was eleven. He probably trained with Pietro Perugino, absorbing his style so completely that their work can be hard to tell apart, and by 1500, aged seventeen, he was already described as a master.

In 1504 he went to Florence, where the work of Leonardo, Michelangelo and Fra Bartolommeo transformed his art, and over the next four years he painted many of his most loved Madonnas. In 1508 Pope Julius II called him to Rome to decorate rooms in the Vatican palace. These frescoes, now known as the Raphael Rooms, include The School of Athens, his best-known work. He also designed the Sistine Chapel tapestries, painted the Triumph of Galatea for the banker Agostino Chigi, and became architect of St Peter's.

Raphael ran a very large workshop, whose leading members were Giulio Romano and Gianfrancesco Penni, and worked with the engraver Marcantonio Raimondi to spread his designs across Europe through prints. He died in Rome on 6 April 1520, aged just 37, and at his request was buried in the Pantheon.

Style and Subjects

Raphael's art is admired for its clarity, harmony and grace. His figures are calm and beautiful, arranged in balanced, often pyramid-shaped groups, with soft modelling, gentle colour and serene expressions. His Madonnas, tender young mothers holding the Christ Child, often with the infant John the Baptist, are among the most familiar images in Western art.

His portraits, such as Baldassare Castiglione and the Woman with a Veil, are quiet and dignified. The collection also includes many of his drawings: studies for the Disputa and The School of Athens, nude figures, children's heads and drapery, which show how carefully he prepared every composition.

Famous Works

• The Marriage of the Virgin (1504), Pinacoteca di Brera, Milan. An early masterpiece in which he surpassed his teacher Perugino.
• Madonna del Granduca (c. 1506), Galleria Palatina, Florence. One of the Madonnas of his Florentine years, a simple, tender image of mother and child.
• Madonna del Cardellino (Madonna of the Goldfinch) (c. 1505), Uffizi Gallery, Florence. The Virgin with the Christ Child and the young John the Baptist holding a goldfinch.
• The School of Athens (c. 1510), Apostolic Palace, Vatican. His fresco of the great philosophers of antiquity, his best-known work.
• The Sistine Madonna (1512), Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister, Dresden. His most famous Madonna, painted for the church of San Sisto in Piacenza.
• Portrait of Baldassare Castiglione (1514–1515). His friend the courtier and writer, author of The Book of the Courtier.
• The Transfiguration (1518–1520), Pinacoteca Vaticana, Rome. His last great altarpiece, unfinished at his death.

Decorating with Raphael Prints

Raphael's Madonnas bring a sense of peace to any room. A print such as Madonna del Granduca or The Small Cowper Madonna suits a bedroom, nursery or quiet reading corner, and their soft blues and reds look beautiful against warm white or stone-coloured walls.

The Sistine Madonna works well in a living room or hallway. The portraits, like Woman with a Veil, are elegant in a study or dining room, and the drawings make a refined group for a library or studio.

FAQ

What art movement was Raphael part of?

Raphael was one of the great masters of the High Renaissance in Italy, alongside Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo. His work is admired for its clarity, harmony and ideal beauty.

What is Raphael's most famous painting?

The School of Athens, a fresco in the Vatican's Stanza della Segnatura, is his best-known work. The Sistine Madonna (1512) in Dresden is his most famous Madonna.

Where can I see Raphael's work?

The Raphael Rooms and the Pinacoteca in the Vatican hold his greatest frescoes and altarpieces. Major paintings are also in the Uffizi and Palazzo Pitti in Florence, the Brera in Milan, the Gemäldegalerie in Dresden and the Hermitage.

How old was Raphael when he died?

He died in Rome on 6 April 1520 at the age of 37, at the height of his fame. He was buried in the Pantheon, as he had asked.

Related Artists

• Pietro Perugino: his probable teacher, whose style shaped Raphael's early work
• Giulio Romano: his leading pupil and heir to his workshop
• Marcantonio Raimondi: engraver whose prints after Raphael spread his designs across Europe
• Leonardo da Vinci: master whose work transformed Raphael's art in Florence
• Fra Bartolomeo: Florentine painter whose group compositions Raphael studied