The founder of the Roman school of painting. He was the son of a painter, and the pupil of Perugino, whom his first style resembles, and whom he quickly surpassed. He was already eminent in his art at the age of seventeen. In 1506, he first saw Michael Angelo’s great and celebrated “Cartoon of Pisa,” and a closer study of anatomy and form is manifest in his works after this time. In 1508, in the pontificate of Julius II., he was invited to Rome, where he continued until his death, painting his exquisite frescos in the Vatican. Whilst executing these works, Michael Angelo was completing the Sistine chapel, and a rivalry arose between these two consummate artists, which was never extinguished. Raffaelle was a sculptor and architect as well as painter. In 1514, he directed the works at St. Peter’s, and was subsequently very zealous in superintending the exhumation of the remains of antique art, and in designing a restoration of ancient Rome. In the midst of his fine labours, he contracted a fever and died. In his works, beauty of Form is the expression of the utmost elevation of mind and perfect purity of soul. Some of Raffaelle’s cartoons on scriptural subjects are at Hampton Court Palace. Several of his pictures are in France, obtained by Francis I., who tried in vain to allure Raffaelle to his capital. His “Transfiguration,” in the Vatican, left unfinished at his death, and carried in his own funeral procession, is considered by some the finest picture in the world. It was finished by his pupil, Giulio Romano. Little or nothing is known of his private life, save that his nature was sweet and gracious, and that all men loved him. He was of a slender frame, and five feet seven inches high. His skull was beautifully formed.
[Raffaelle was buried in the Pantheon at Rome, now called Sta. Maria Ritonda. His tomb was ordered by himself, and executed by Lorenzo Lotti, who, it is said, restored one of the ancient tabernacles there at Raffaelle’s request, and added an altar, with a figure of the Virgin. Upon this monument there is a bust of him by Paolo Naldini, a sculptor who lived in the early part of the 17th century. The tomb was opened in 1833, and the remains were found entire, so that the skull long exhibited in the Academy of S. Luke as that of Raffaelle was proved to be a fabulous relic. Portraits of Raffaelle are to be found in several celebrated pictures; in the Duomo and Sacristy of Siena, in the Borghese Gallery at Rome, and one by his own hand in the picture of St. Luke; but the most authentic one, and that which alone possesses the beautiful expression of his remarkable countenance, is the picture by himself in the Gallery of Portraits of Painters by their own hands at Florence. This bust is from one probably by Carlo Maratta, a great admirer and copier of Raffaelle’s works, and who presented it to the Capitoline Museum. There was in 1791, in the Spada Palace at Rome, a portrait of Raffaelle when 12 years old, by himself. (See “Martyn’s Tour in Italy,” p. 242.)]
147. Michele Sanmicheli. Architect.
[Born at Verona, in Italy, 1484. Died there, 1559. Aged 75.]
His works were chiefly fortifications. At the age of seventeen, he went to Rome to study the remains of its ancient architecture, and there gained the friendship of Buonarotti, Bramante, Sansovino, and Sangallo. For Pope Clement VII. he fortified, with Sangallo, the cities of Parma and Placentia. In 1527, entered the service of the Venetians, and for them, at Verona, first employed angular bastions, which he invented. The principle being generally adopted, Sanmicheli was employed to fortify many of the Italian cities, as well as the islands of Candia and Corfu. He then strengthened his native city with fortifications, and adorned it with palaces and other works. One of these, the Capella di Guareschi, is a masterpiece of architecture.
[Bust by Domenico Manera.]
148. Fra Sebastiano del Piombo, sometimes called Sebastiano Veneziano. Painter.
[Born at Venice, 1485. Died at Rome, 1547. Aged 62.]
The pupil of Bellini and Giorgione. At Rome he competed with Raffaelle, and gained the friendship and approval of Michael Angelo, some of whose designs he executed,—amongst others that of the “Raising of Lazarus”—a picture now in our National Gallery. Besides painting in oils and fresco, he invented a method of painting on stone, which was much admired. His portraits are celebrated, and he excelled in beauty of colouring. It is said that he was slow of execution, and not a lover of his art, which he deserted for other pleasures when he attained competency. His principal works are in Venice and Rome. He was called Fra del Piombo (Monk of the Signet), from the office of sealer of briefs, which he held in the Pope’s Chancery.
[By Massimiliano Laboureur.]