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In 1508 Raphael was summoned
to Rome by Pope Julius II in order to
decorate a suite of offical rooms in the Vatican known as the Stanze. He started with the Stanza della Segnatura, the office
in which documents were sealed, producing a series of frescos concerned with different aspects of the human intellect. The most famous of these,
the School of Athens (1509-1511), represents groups of Greek philosophers in a monumental Classical
setting. Despite the great number and variety of figures, the painting has a remarkably balanced, unified composition, dominated
by the eloquently gesturing figures of Plato and Aristotle in the centre. The other frescos in the Stanza, representing theology, poetry, and law, have a similarly harmonious quality, which also
characterizes the Stanza dell'Eliodoro (1511-1514). This was followed by two further rooms, which were mostly executed by
Raphael's assistants, in particular Giulio Romano, who were also responsible for painting the Vatican Loggie, completed in 1519. During
this period Raphael also produced a series of cartoons (1515-1516, Royal Collection, on loan to the Victoria and Albert Museum, London)
for tapestries that were to
be hung in the Sistine Chapel. These memorable compositions, representing scenes from the lives of St Peter and St Paul, were to be enormously influential on later artists.
As well as working for the
papacy, Raphael also received important commissions from private patrons, in particular the banker Agostino Chigi, for whom
he decorated two chapels, at Santa Maria della Pace (c. 1512-1513) and Santa Maria del Popolo (1516). For Chigi he also adorned
the Villa Farnesina with sensual mythological frescos depicting Galatea (c. 1511) and scenes from the story
of Cupid and Psyche (1516-1517),
the latter painted so as to create a trompe l'oeil effect of tapestries suspended overhead. Raphael's interiors were profoundly influenced
by the grotesque style of ornamentation inside the Domus Aurea, the recently excavated palace of the Roman emperor Nero. This is particularly
apparent in the stuccoed loggia of the Villa Madama, built by Raphael for Cardinal Giulio de' Medici (begun c. 1518).
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Raphael also experimented
with profuse decoration on an exterior in the (now destroyed) Palazzo Branconio dell'Aquila. Such works contrast greatly with
the austere beauty of Sant'Eligio degli Orefici, a small church, in the form of a domed Greek cross, which was designed by
Raphael and (probably) Bramante around 1509. While the church's lucid geometrical structure and restrained decoration typify the High
Renaissance, the later buildings clearly anticipate the complexity of Mannerism. During this period Raphael also produced memorable works on panel and canvas, including
a number of portraits: these included a remarkably frank depiction of the aged Pope
Julius II (c. 1511, National Gallery, London), as well as Pope Leo X and Two Cardinals
(c. 1519, Uffizi, Florence) and the nobleman Baldassare Castiglione (c. 1516, Musée
du Louvre, Paris). Raphael also executed a number of extraordinary altarpieces, including the celebrated Sistine Madonna (c. 1513, Gemäldegalerie, Dresden), a magnificent image of the Virgin and Child appearing among
radiant clouds, above two of the most engaging putti (cherubs) in Renaissance art. Equally extraordinary is The Transfiguration (1517-1520, Vatican, Rome), completed by Giulio Romano after Raphael's death, which greatly
influenced the crowded, dynamic compositions of later Mannerist painters.
Raphael's death in Rome on
April 6, 1520, cut short an immensely successful and productive career. His work exemplifies the confidence and originality
of the High Renaissance. Like Michelangelo, he produced works of supreme harmony and grandeur, while also on occasion introducing
qualities that would later be associated with Mannerism. Through the engravings of Marcantonio Raimondi, his compositions became
widely known throughout his lifetime, and his influence on academic painters in subsequent centuries was inestimable.
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