Raphael Sanzio Inspired

It was once said by Josef Albers that, “Any color subtracts its own hue from the colors which it carries and therefore influences.” An artist works upon people, places, and things that incite them to express themselves. It is these things that lay the foundation for a masterpiece that goes on to influence future artists. This is how the artist Raphael Sanzio came about being one of the best of his time. Raphael took methods and ideas from his surrounding colleagues and then he would combine them with his own personality to create some of the best works from his era. Raphael Sanzio’s work of the Italian High Renaissance era is the result of influences and incorporation of techniques of Michelangelo Buonarroti, Pietro Perugino, and Leonardo DaVinci.

Raphael Sanzio is most well remembered for his dynamic works from his time. Raphael was born in Urbino in the province of Umbria in 1483. Fortunately for him, his father, Giovani di Santi, was a painter who began developing Raphael’s artistic talent from a very young age. By the year 1500 he had already been sent to Florence, Italy to practice in Perugino’s workshop. His work was almost always classified under the category of placid and gracefully merged. Quickly enough Raphael was categorized well above his teacher Perugino and excelled to be much more successful throughout his short lived career. Coincidentally, Raphael moved to Florence during the same time that Michelangelo Buonarroti and Leonardo Da Vinci were there. Working in the same atmosphere as these magnificent artists turned out to be immensely beneficial for him. He used his resources to the best of his advantage and made himself a name that would never be forgotten: Raphael Sanzio, the youngest of the three artists of the Italian High Renaissance. (“Raphael (Rafaello) Sanzio.”)

Michelangleo Buonarroti was a fellow artist from the same time period and area as Raphael. This fact did not mean that the two were friends. It is actually noted that they would not even associate with one another. (“Raphael, artist.”) As a coincidence, both artists were called in to do a private work for Pope Julius ll in the Vatican at the same exact time. Although their work was meant to be kept private, Raphael went with the Pope to sneak a preview of Michelangelo’s work in the Sistine Chapel. It was from this sight that inspiration out poured. Being so strongly moved and inspired by this painting in progress, Sanzio returned to his fresco and added a Michelangelic touch.

Raphael admired Michelanglo as a master even though Michelangelo never even acknowledged him as being a “true” artist. This did not stop Raphael from erasing a portion of his painting the School of Athens see figure 1 to include a portrait of Michelangelo in the foreground. In the finished piece Michelangelo can be seen leaning over a block of marble in what is almost the bottom of the center of the piece. Raphael would not have done this if he did not have the highest of admiration towards Michelangelo Buonarotti, who was one of his most commendable competitors. (“The School of Athens by Raphael Sanzio.”)

Growing up, people tend to take from the way they were raised and incorporate it into the way they go about doing their everyday work. This pertained to Sanzio while he apprenticed for Pietro Perugino during his early years of working as an artist. Working under Perugino for nearly four years, Raphael was destined to pick up specific ideas and details from his works and style