Late Raphael

This book focuses on a crucial but hitherto neglected part of Raphael's oeuvre: the work he and his pupils executed in Rome during the seven years from 1513 to the artist's death in 1520. Nearly ninety works - including paintings such as Saint Cecile and Portrait of Baldassere Castiglione, as well as many significant drawings - illustrate the ways in which Raphael employed an astonishing range of technical devices, many of which were highly novel and enjoyed considerable subsequent influence: Raphael's workshop methods eventually became a model for the great artistic enterprises of the seventeenth century, notably those of Rubens, Bernini and Pietro da Cortona. The book also clarifies and focuses on the work of his two most important pupils, Gianfrancesco Penni and Giulio Romano. The text surveys Raphael's late paintings in chronological order, explores his range of styles, and investigates the role of his workshop in the design and production of his pictures. The essayists' words and the sublime works of art that accompany them will provide a deeper knowledge of one of the masters - with Leonardo and Michelangelo - of High Renaissance art.