RAFFAELLO SANZIO

Raffaello Sanzio da Urbino (April 6 or March 28, 1483 – April 6, 1520), better known simply as Raphael, was an Italian painter and architect of the High Renaissance. His work is admired for its clarity of form and ease of composition and for its visual achievement of the Neoplatonic ideal of human grandeur.

Many of his works are found in the Vatican Palace, where the frescoed Raphael Rooms were the central, and the largest, work of his career. The best known work is The School of Athens in the Vatican Stanza della Segnatura. After his death, the influence of his great rival Michelangelo was more widespread until the 18th and 19th centuries, when Raphael's more serene and harmonious qualities were again regarded as the highest models. His career falls naturally into three phases and three styles, first described by Giorgio Vasari: his early years in Umbria, then a period of about four years (1504–1508) absorbing the artistic traditions of Florence, followed by his last hectic and triumphant twelve years in Rome, working for two Popes and their close associates.

1. Raphael

a)    Had a Neoplatonic ideal of human grandeur

b)    Had a Middle Age vision of human grandeur

c)    Had a Roman ideal of human grandeur

d)    Had no ideal about human grandeur

2. The most important works of Raphael’s career

a)    Are in Florence

b)    Are in Naples

c)    Are in Milan

d)    Are in Vatican City

3. Raphael spend some of his years

a)    In France

b)    In Polland

c)    In Tuscany

d)    In Sicily