Madonna and Child with the Infant St. John the Baptist "Madonna of the Meadow" RAPHAEL 1506

Raffaello Sanzio da Urbino, known as Raphael, was modest with a sweet disposition and gentle nature that is visible in his works, so beautiful they speak of  courtesy and grace:

Raphael was born at Urbino, one of the famous cities of Italy, at three o'clock at night on Good Friday, 1483, to a father named Giovanni de' Santi, a painter of much less talent than that of his son, but a man of good intelligence, well able to direct his children on that good path which he himself had not been fortunate enough to have shown to him in his boyhood. And since Giovanni knew how important it is to rear infants, not with the milk of nurses, but with that of their own mothers, no sooner was Raffaello born and Baptized, than he insisted that this his only child should be suckled by his own mother, and that in his tender years he should have his character formed in the house of his parents. When he was well grown, he began to exercise him in painting, seeing him much inclined to such an art, and possessed of an awesome genius: so much so that Raffaello, still a boy, was a great help to his father in many works that he painted in Urbino. In the end, this good and loving father, knowing that his son could learn little from him, made up his mind to place him with Pietro Perugino, who, held the first place among painters at that time. Pietro, courteous, generous and a lover of genius, agreed to have Raffaello at Perugia.

Raphael, studying the manner of Pietro, imitated it in every respect so closely, that his copies could not be distinguished from his master's original; when he had received acclaim for his ability he was also much sought after as a husband by relatives of the nobility and the clergy; one such was a Cardinal who had a niece; Raphael reluctantly agreed-----he was by inclination a bachelor------but delayed the marriage. He took paramours on the side, his weakness of character. Raphael had on one occasion indulged in more than his usual excess or carousing, and returned to his house in a violent fever. The physicians, therefore, believing that he had overheated himself, and receiving from him no confession of the excess of which he had been guilty, imprudently bled him; he had become so weak that he realized he was dying Thereupon he made his will: and first, and acting like a Catholic, he sent his mistress out of the house, leaving her the means to live honorably. He gave orders that some of his wealth should be used for restoring with new masonry one of the ancient altars in S. Maria Ritonda, and for making one with a marble statue of Our Lady, in that church, which he chose as his place of repose and burial. Then he confessed and was penitent, and ended his life at age thirty-seven, on the same day he was born, Good Friday, April 7, 1520.

As he lay dead in the hall where he had been working, there was placed at his head the picture of the Transfiguration, which he had executed for Cardinal de' Medici; and the sight of that living picture, in contrast with the dead body, caused the hearts of all who beheld it to burst with sorrow. That work, in memory of the loss of Raffaello, was placed by the Cardinal on the high altar of S. Pietro a Montorio.






HOME-----------GALLERIES-----------WEST-----------NORTH-----------SOUTH

www.catholictradition.org/Galleries/east1.htm