Raffaello da Montelupo
Encyclopedia
Raffaello da Montelupo born Raffaele Sinibaldi, was a sculptor and architect of the Italian Renaissance
, and an apprentice of Michelangelo
. He was the son of another Italian sculptor, Baccio da Montelupo
. Both father and son are profiled in Vasari's Le Vite delle più eccellenti pittori, scultori, ed architettori (or, in English, Lives of the Most Excellent Painters, Sculptors, and Architects).
Raffaello was born in Montelupo Fiorentino
, near Florence
.
As a young artist in his twenties, he assisted Lorenzetto
in Rome
with the execution of statues of Elijah and Jonah for the Chigi Chapel
in Santa Maria del Popolo
(on designs by Raphael
). He is also attributed a marble relief of the mystical marriage of St. Catherine (c. 1530), in a chapel at Santa Maria della Consolazione
.
Raffaello then went to Loreto
, where the Visitazione and Adorazione dei Magi (c. 1534) at the Basilica of the Holy House (Chiesa della Casa Santa) are attributed to him (on designs by Andrea Sansovino
).
Shortly thereafter, according to Vasari, Raffaello began work in Florence
with Michelangelo
, at the Medici Chapel
(Sagrestia Nuova) of the Basilica di San Lorenzo, where he created San Damiano (c. 1534). St. Cosmas is also attributed to him, together with Giovanni Angelo Montorsoli
, another assistant to Michelangelo.
He returned to Rome, continuing to work as a sculptor under the direction of Michelangelo. There he contributed to work on the tomb of Julius II at San Pietro in Vincoli
, and contributed (along with Bandinelli) to the tomb of Pope Leo X at Santa Maria sopra Minerva
.
For the chapel constructed by Leo X at the fortress of Castel Sant'Angelo
, Raffaello created a Madonna. In addition, he sculpted a marble statue of Saint Michael holding his sword, designed to stand atop the Castel. (Legend holds that in 590 the Archangel appeared atop what was then the mausoleum of Hadrian
, sheathing his sword as a sign of the end of the Roman plague, thus lending the fortress its present name). Raffaello's St. Michael was later replaced by a bronze statue of the same subject, executed by Flemish sculptor Peter Anton von Verschaffelt
in 1753. His version may still be seen in an open court in the interior of the fortress.
Under Pope Paul III, Raffaello was commissioned to create fourteen angels to adorn Ponte Sant'Angelo
, the bridge connecting Rome's center to the Castel Sant'Angelo. Those sculptures were later replaced under a commission by Pope Clement IX in 1669 for new angels by Bernini.
Raffaello da Montelupo also worked as an architect and, among other projects, made both sculptural and architectural contributions to the Duomo in the Umbrian town of Orvieto
, where he retired and later died in 1566/1567. Vasari summed up Raffaello da Montelupo as follows:
, and Montelupo's work as a budding artist and sculptor during this period. A passing mention in his autobiography -- by way of describing the use of his left hand in drawing and writing -- is the only known contemporary reference to the apparent natural left-handedness of his teacher Michelangelo
:
Italian Renaissance
The Italian Renaissance began the opening phase of the Renaissance, a period of great cultural change and achievement in Europe that spanned the period from the end of the 13th century to about 1600, marking the transition between Medieval and Early Modern Europe...
, and an apprentice of Michelangelo
Michelangelo
Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni , commonly known as Michelangelo, was an Italian Renaissance painter, sculptor, architect, poet, and engineer who exerted an unparalleled influence on the development of Western art...
. He was the son of another Italian sculptor, Baccio da Montelupo
Baccio da Montelupo
Baccio da Montelupo , born Bartolomeo di Giovanni d'Astore dei Sinibaldi, was a sculptor of the Italian Renaissance. He is the father of another Italian sculptor, Raffaello da Montelupo...
. Both father and son are profiled in Vasari's Le Vite delle più eccellenti pittori, scultori, ed architettori (or, in English, Lives of the Most Excellent Painters, Sculptors, and Architects).
Works
Montelupo Fiorentino
Montelupo Fiorentino is a comune in the Province of Florence in the Italian region Tuscany, located about 20 km southwest of Florence...
, near Florence
Florence
Florence is the capital city of the Italian region of Tuscany and of the province of Florence. It is the most populous city in Tuscany, with approximately 370,000 inhabitants, expanding to over 1.5 million in the metropolitan area....
.
As a young artist in his twenties, he assisted Lorenzetto
Lorenzetto
Lorenzo Lotti, also known as Lorenzetto, , born Lorenzo di Lodovico di Guglielmo, was an Italian Renaissance sculptor and architect in the circle of Raphael....
in Rome
Rome
Rome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...
with the execution of statues of Elijah and Jonah for the Chigi Chapel
Chigi Chapel
The Chigi Chapel is one of six chapels in the Church of Santa Maria del Popolo, Piazza del Popolo, Rome. The Chigi chapel, the second on the left-hand side of the nave, was designed by Raphael as a private chapel for his friend and patron Sienese banker Agostino Chigi, then completed by Gian...
in Santa Maria del Popolo
Santa Maria del Popolo
Santa Maria del Popolo is an Augustinian church located in Rome, Italy.It stands to the north side of the Piazza del Popolo, one of the most famous squares in the city. The Piazza is situated between the ancient Porta Flaminia and the park of the Pincio...
(on designs by Raphael
Raphael
Raffaello Sanzio da Urbino , 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...
). He is also attributed a marble relief of the mystical marriage of St. Catherine (c. 1530), in a chapel at Santa Maria della Consolazione
Santa Maria della Consolazione
Santa Maria della Consolazione is a Roman Catholic church in Rome at the foot of the Palatine Hill, in rione Campitelli.-History:The church is named after an icon of the Virgin Mary which was placed on this site to console criminals who were tossed down off the cliff above the church, thought to be...
.
Raffaello then went to Loreto
Loreto (AN)
Loreto is a hilltown and comune of the Italian province of Ancona, in the Marche. It is mostly famous as the seat of the Basilica della Santa Casa, a popular Catholic pilgrimage site.-Location:...
, where the Visitazione and Adorazione dei Magi (c. 1534) at the Basilica of the Holy House (Chiesa della Casa Santa) are attributed to him (on designs by Andrea Sansovino
Andrea Sansovino
Andrea dal Monte Sansovino or Andrea Contucci del Monte San Savino was an Italian sculptor active during the High Renaissance...
).
Shortly thereafter, according to Vasari, Raffaello began work in Florence
Florence
Florence is the capital city of the Italian region of Tuscany and of the province of Florence. It is the most populous city in Tuscany, with approximately 370,000 inhabitants, expanding to over 1.5 million in the metropolitan area....
with Michelangelo
Michelangelo
Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni , commonly known as Michelangelo, was an Italian Renaissance painter, sculptor, architect, poet, and engineer who exerted an unparalleled influence on the development of Western art...
, at the Medici Chapel
Medici Chapel
The Medici Chapels is a structure in the Basilica of San Lorenzo, Florence, Italy. It comprises two structures added to Brunelleschi's original design, each intended to celebrate the power of the Medici as Grand Dukes of Tuscany. One is the Sagrestia Nuova, the "New Sacristy", designed by...
(Sagrestia Nuova) of the Basilica di San Lorenzo, where he created San Damiano (c. 1534). St. Cosmas is also attributed to him, together with Giovanni Angelo Montorsoli
Giovanni Angelo Montorsoli
Giovanni Antonio Montorsoli , also known as Fra Montorsoli, as Michele Agnolo and as Angelo di Michele d' Angelo da Poggibonsi, was an Italian sculptor.-Biography:...
, another assistant to Michelangelo.
He returned to Rome, continuing to work as a sculptor under the direction of Michelangelo. There he contributed to work on the tomb of Julius II at San Pietro in Vincoli
San Pietro in Vincoli
San Pietro in Vincoli is a Roman Catholic titular church and minor basilica in Rome, Italy, best known for being the home of Michelangelo's statue of Moses, part of the tomb of Pope Julius II.-History:...
, and contributed (along with Bandinelli) to the tomb of Pope Leo X at Santa Maria sopra Minerva
Santa Maria sopra Minerva
The Basilica of Saint Mary Above Minerva is a titular minor basilica and one of the most important churches of the Roman Catholic Dominican order in Rome, Italy. The church, located in the Piazza della Minerva in the Campus Martius region, is considered the only Gothic church in Rome. It houses...
.
For the chapel constructed by Leo X at the fortress of Castel Sant'Angelo
Castel Sant'Angelo
The Mausoleum of Hadrian, usually known as the Castel Sant'Angelo, is a towering cylindrical building in Parco Adriano, Rome, Italy. It was initially commissioned by the Roman Emperor Hadrian as a mausoleum for himself and his family...
, Raffaello created a Madonna. In addition, he sculpted a marble statue of Saint Michael holding his sword, designed to stand atop the Castel. (Legend holds that in 590 the Archangel appeared atop what was then the mausoleum of Hadrian
Hadrian
Hadrian , was Roman Emperor from 117 to 138. He is best known for building Hadrian's Wall, which marked the northern limit of Roman Britain. In Rome, he re-built the Pantheon and constructed the Temple of Venus and Roma. In addition to being emperor, Hadrian was a humanist and was philhellene in...
, sheathing his sword as a sign of the end of the Roman plague, thus lending the fortress its present name). Raffaello's St. Michael was later replaced by a bronze statue of the same subject, executed by Flemish sculptor Peter Anton von Verschaffelt
Peter Anton von Verschaffelt
Peter Anton von Verschaffelt was a Flemish sculptor and architect.Verschaffelt designed, among other things in Mannheim, the High Altar of the Jesuit church , the arsenal and the Bretzenheim Palace, as well as the church Wallfahrtskirche Mariä Himmelfahrt in Oggersheim .-Life and work:Verschaffelt...
in 1753. His version may still be seen in an open court in the interior of the fortress.
Under Pope Paul III, Raffaello was commissioned to create fourteen angels to adorn Ponte Sant'Angelo
Ponte Sant'Angelo
Ponte Sant'Angelo, once the Aelian Bridge or Pons Aelius, meaning the Bridge of Hadrian, is a Roman bridge in Rome, Italy, completed in 134 AD by Roman Emperor Hadrian, to span the Tiber, from the city center to his newly constructed mausoleum, now the towering Castel Sant'Angelo...
, the bridge connecting Rome's center to the Castel Sant'Angelo. Those sculptures were later replaced under a commission by Pope Clement IX in 1669 for new angels by Bernini.
Raffaello da Montelupo also worked as an architect and, among other projects, made both sculptural and architectural contributions to the Duomo in the Umbrian town of Orvieto
Orvieto
Orvieto is a city and comune in Province of Terni, southwestern Umbria, Italy situated on the flat summit of a large butte of volcanic tuff...
, where he retired and later died in 1566/1567. Vasari summed up Raffaello da Montelupo as follows:
I believe that Raffaello, if he had undertaken great works, as he might have done, would have executed more things in art, and better, than he did. But he was too kindly and considerate, avoiding all conflict, and contenting himself with that wherewith fortune had provided him; and thus he neglected many opportunities of making works of distinction. Raffaello was a very masterly draughtsman, and he had a much better knowledge of all matters of art that had been shown by his father Baccio.
Autobiography
In the 1560s, Raffaello wrote something of a partial autobiography, recounting episodes from his youth, the sack of Rome in 1527 by the army of Charles V, Holy Roman EmperorCharles V, Holy Roman Emperor
Charles V was ruler of the Holy Roman Empire from 1519 and, as Charles I, of the Spanish Empire from 1516 until his voluntary retirement and abdication in favor of his younger brother Ferdinand I and his son Philip II in 1556.As...
, and Montelupo's work as a budding artist and sculptor during this period. A passing mention in his autobiography -- by way of describing the use of his left hand in drawing and writing -- is the only known contemporary reference to the apparent natural left-handedness of his teacher Michelangelo
Michelangelo
Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni , commonly known as Michelangelo, was an Italian Renaissance painter, sculptor, architect, poet, and engineer who exerted an unparalleled influence on the development of Western art...
:
I will not omit to say that by nature I am left-handed, and, finding that hand more facile than the right one, I used to write with it, since my teacher did not mind, being satisfied that my handwriting was good. I have therefore always used the left hand, be it for writing, be it for drawing some designs from the MorganteMorganteMorgante, sometimes also called Morgante Maggiore , is an Italian romantic epic by Luigi Pulci which appeared in its final form in 1483 .Based...
, which was used for reading at school. From the moment that I held the sheet lengthwise, in order to write with the left hand, many were astonished, thinking that I wrote "all'ebraica" ["Hebrew-style", i.e. right-to-left] and that [my writing] could not be read later. . . . As I have already said, I draw better with the left hand, and once when I found myself drawing the "Arco di Trasi al Colosseo" [the Arch of ConstantineArch of ConstantineThe Arch of Constantine is a triumphal arch in Rome, situated between the Colosseum and the Palatine Hill. It was erected to commemorate Constantine I's victory over Maxentius at the Battle of Milvian Bridge on October 28, 312...
], Michelangelo and Sebastiano del PiomboSebastiano del PiomboSebastiano del Piombo , byname of Sebastiano Luciani, was an Italian Renaissance-Mannerist painter of the early 16th century famous for his combination of the colors of the Venetian school and the monumental forms of the Roman school.- Biography :Sebastiano del Piombo belongs to the painting school...
passed by and stopped to watch me. It should be prefaced that both of them, though naturally left-handed, did everything with their right hand, except actions requiring force. So they stayed a long time to watch me with great wonder, because, as far as is known, the two of them never made anything with their left [hand].