Raphael by James H Beck; (Masters of Art) 1994. Hardcover. (LF)

All of Raphael's most important paintings as well as a significant number of his drawings and engravings are reproduced, principally in color, in this splendid new tribute to one of the most admired artists of the Italian Renaissance.

In this lavishly illustrated book featuring some 300 illustrations, the author takes a fresh, critical look at the life and work of Rafaello Sanzio, or, as he signed certain paintings, Raphael Urbinas--in homage to his native city of Urbino. Described as "an artist touched by grace," Raphael is considered along with Michelangelo and Leonardo to be one of the greatest painters of the Italian Renaissance.

Raphael (1483-1520), whose birth and death were on a Good Friday, belonged to a family of merchants; aside from his training in the studio of Perugino, little is known about his earliest years. He arrived in Florence in 1504, where he studied the masters: Masaccio, Ghirlandaio, Leonardo and produced magnificent paintings of the Madonna as well as remarkable portraits; in 1508 he went to Rome, where he died a dozen years later at the height of his powers, after creating monumental works at the Vatican. At thirty years of age, he was, in the eyes of his contemporaries, a living legend.