Raphael Masterpieces of Art

Julia Biggs (MA Cantab) is an independent researcher, writer, lecturer and tutor in art history. She specializes in Italian Renaissance art and theory, and the material culture of devotion in the early modern Jewish home. Julia has been a tutor and assessor with the Open College of the Arts, part of the University for the Creative Arts, since 2008 and is a member of the Association for Art History. She is a contributing writer to Art UK and through Renaissance Art History Cambridge, she runs courses, talks, study days and gallery visits in both the UK and Italy. The Renaissance artist Raphael (1483–1520) was trained in both the Umbrian and Florentine schools, and along with Michelangelo and Leonardo da Vinci has come to epitomize the Renaissance movement. Born in Urbino, Raphael became an orphan at the age of eleven. His father had been a court painter, and Raphael showed early talent while working in his workshop. He went on to work as an assistant to Pietro Perugino, and was considered fully trained by 1501. He further developed his style during his ‘Florentine period’ and later moved to Rome, where he received several important commissions and created some of his most stunning masterpieces.