Portrait
Raphael Sanzio (1483-1520) was born in Urbino where his father was a painter. The Sanzio family members were personal friends to the Duke of Urbino whose palace was just down the street from the Sanzio’s fine townhouse. Raphael was a born painter; he could draw brilliantly while still a child. He studied with Perugino in Perugia and then went to Florence, the center of Italian painting at that time. The teenage Raphael arrived in Florence carrying a letter of introduction from the Duchess of Urbino. His good looks and charming manner helped him to push into the competitive world of Florentine painting. Soon he was competing successfully with Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo.
15C
| 1387 | Milan conquers Verona. Milan on the march. Look out Florence! |
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| 1390 | Siena and Pisa join Milan alliance. Florence increasingly isolated. |
| 1399 | Siena and Perugia formally turns gov over to Visconti of Milan. Florence being surrounded. |
| 1400 | Milan close to conquering all of northern Italy. Flo independence at risk. |
| 1401 | Competition for Bronze doors of Baptistery, Florence. Brunelleschi vs Ghiberti. Subject of Sacrifice of Isaac. Ghiberti wins. |
| 1402 | (Jun) Milan defeats Florence-Bologna army. All north Italy open for Milan. (Sep) Gian Galleazzo Visconti ruler of Milan dies. Florence independence saved. |
| 1404 | Government of Florence orders guilds to get moving. Guilds rush to complete their statues for Orsanmichele. |
| 1408 | Donatello's first major work: David (marble) now in Bargello. Birth of Alessandra Macinghi degli Strozzi (d. 1471) |
| 1409 | Brunelleschi and Donatello go to Rome, Study the Roman ruins. They make extensive drawings of Pantheon, bring home to use in Duomo. |
| 1413 | Donatello's St Mark for Orsanmichele (Flo), one of most influential works of sculpture in whole of Ren. |
| 1413 | Nanni di Banco, sculptor: Four Martyrs for Orsanmichele (Flo). |
| 1416 | Ghiberti: St John the Baptist for Orsanmichele (Flo). |
| 1417 | Donatello: St George for Orsanmichele (Flo). |
| 1422 | Alessandra Macinghi marries Matteo degli Strozzi. Matteo a member of one of the most important and powerful families in Florence. |
| 1420 | Brunelleschi appointed: architect for dome of Cathedral of Flo. |
| 1425 | Brunelleschi: first painting in West using math "perspective." Masaccio: Brancacci Chapel, Santa Carmine, Florence. |
| 1427 | Masaccio: "Trinity" painted in Santa Maria Novella (Flo). |
| 1429 | Ghiberti: Second set of doors for Baptistry ("Gates of Paradise") |
| 1430 | Medici growing domination. After 1435 Medici triumphant in Florence until 1494. |
| 1433 | Enemies of Medici become temporarily dominant in the council of gov and send the head of Medici family, Cosimo de' Medici, into exile (he goes to Venice) During this next year, 1433-1434, a furious fight breaks out within Florentine political circles, pro- and anti-Medici. In the fall of 1434, the Medici finally win.(Pope has been helping, Medici Bank very important for the papacy). |
| 1434 | Return of Cosimo de' Medici to Florence in triumph. The Medici now have complete control of the gov instruments for the next thirty years. Those who were part of the anti-Medici circle now pay the price and are exiled. Among the exiles are the Strozzi including Matteo Strozzi who is exiled to Pesaro. Wife Alessandra and children join him. Fra Angelico: "Descent from the Cross" (San Marco). |
| 1435 | Death of Matteo Strozzi in exile in Pesaro. His widow Alessandra returns to the Strozzi home in Florence with her children. Leon Battista Alberti, On Painting. |
| 1439 | International council of church, East-West, Pope-Patriarch, held in Florence under Brunelleschi's recently completed dome. Florence at center of world of religion and culture at this moment. Greeks bring 100s of precious texts with them and all Flo pressed into service copying during the Ecumenical Council. |
| 1444 | Build huge new Palazzo Medici (via Cavour) near San Lorenzo, right in the center of old Florence, demolish many other buildings to do it, biggest private palace to that time in Florence. |
| 1447 | Pope Nicholas V, Tuscan pal of the Medici elected to St Peter's chair. |
| 1449 | Birth of Lorenzo de' Medici who will take his family and his city to its highest point of cultural and political influence. The half century of his life is Florence's Golden Age. |
| 1450 | Piero della Francesca: "Baptism of Christ" (National Gallery). |
| 1451 | Birth of Christopher Columbus (Genoa). (d. 1506) |
| 1454 | Birth of Amerigo Vespucci in Florence. (d. 1512) |
| 1464 | Death of Cosimo de' Medici on Aug 1. Death of Cosimo throws the whole Medici apparatus into confusion. The political machine had been a very personal affair and now Cosimo's son Piero is faced with a crisis for which he is not prepared. He suffers with terrible gout and is often bedridden. The anti-Medici circles organize to overthrow Medici. Death of Pope Pius II, a great friend of the Medici. |
| 1466 | March: Death of Francesco Sforza, another friend of the Medici, Sept: Plot against the Medici collapses. Piero de' Medici prevails over his enemy Luca Pitti who had led the anti-Medici movement. |
| 1469 | December: Death of Piero de' Medici. Suddenly the leadership of the Medici machine falls into the hands of Lorenzo de' Medici, age 20. Lorenzo will dominate Florentine politics and culture for the next twenty-three years and will die at age forty-three in 1492 from the same desease that had killed his father: gout. |
| 1471 | Death of Alessandra degli Strozzi. (b. 1408) |
| 1473 | Birth of Nicolaus Copernicus in Poland. (d. 1543) |
| 1475 | Birth of Michelangelo. (d. 1564) |
| 1478 | (Apr 26) Pazzi Plot in Florence. Plot to assassinate Medici brothers and bring about revolution in Florence, kill Giuliano de' Medici in Cathedral during High Mass as he kneels at altar, but Lorenzo survives. Begins intense enmity between Florence and Papacy which had been in on the plot. |
| 1482 | Botticelli: "La Primavera" "Birth of Venus" (now in Uffizi). |
| 1483 | Birth of Raphael in Urbino. (d. 1520) |
| 1492 | Death of Lorenzo de' Medici (bad news for Florence). Columbus in Caribbean (cant call it "America"-not named yet, named later after Amerigo Vespucci, a Florentine). |
| 1494 | King Charles VIII of France arrives Italy. Brings largest army into Italy since Roman times. (Nov)Florence: fall of Medici and ascendancy of Savonarola. (Nov)Death of Pico della Mirandola. |
| 1498 | (May) Execute Savonarola: Piazza della Signoria (marker still there). |
| 1503 | Death of Pope Alexander (Borgia). elect Julius II (patron of Michelangelo-Sistine). |
| 1504 | Michelangelo: completion of David, install Piazza della Signoria. Michelangelo goes to Rome (Sistine, Vatican). Raphael soon on way to Rome too (Stanze, Vatican). Leonardo working in Milan. The heroic days of Florentine Renaissance are over. Both Lippi and Botticelli dead by 1510. |
| 1512 | Completion of Sistine (Michelangelo) and Stanze (Raphael). Rome new art center of Italy, eclipse of Florence. |
| 1513 | Death of Pope Julius. Elect Medici (Giovanni de' Medici, childhood friend of Michelangelo) Pope Leo X, power of Medici now moves to Rome.Florence becomes a puppet of Rome. |
16C
| 1502 | Columbus sails on fourth & last voyage to Honduras and Panama. Amerigo Vespucci second voyage to South America, proclaims it is not India but "a new world." |
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| 1503 | Prince Henry of England marries Princess Catherine of Aragon. Death of Pope Alexander VI (Borgia); Election of Giuliano della Rovere as Pope Julius II. Leonardo da Vinci paints the Mona Lisa. |
| 1504 | Death of Queen Isabella of Castile, Ferdinand now has difficult situation in the control of Spain since he is not the legal heir to Isabella but instead the heiress is their daughter Juana. Raphael paints The Marriage of the Virgin (now in Brera, Milan). |
| 1505 | Foundation of Christ's College, Cambridge, by Margaret Countess of Richmond, beginning of the great days of Cambridge with generous royal patronage. |
| 1506 | Death of Christopher Columbus.(b. 1451) |
| 1507 | Ordination to the priesthood of Martin Luther. Map maker Martin Waldseemuller proposes the new world on maps be named "America" after Amerigo Vespucci of Florence. |
| 1508 | Michelangelo in Rome: paint the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel. |
| 1509 | Henry VIII becomes King of England. (d. 1547) |
| 1510 | Martin Luther in Rome as delegate of his monastic order. Death of Botticelli. Passing of the Florentine artistic Renaissance. |
| 1511 | Erasmus nominated professor of Greek at Cambridge. |
| 1512 | Michelangelo finishes the Sistine Ceiling and Raphael finishes the frescoes in the Stanza della Segnatura (School of Athens) next door to the Sistine. |
| 1513 | Death of Pope Julius II. Election of Michelangelo's childhood friend from the Medici palace, Giovanni de'Medici as Pope Leo X. Michelangelo finishes Moses for tomb of Pope Julius II. |
| 1515 | Death of the King of France Louis XII. succeeded by his nephew Francis I (to 1547). Now begins life long duel between two young kings: Hen VIII and Francis I. |
| 1516 | Death of Ferdinand of Spain, his grandson Charles age 16 succeeds to throne of Spain. (His mother Junana supposedly insane is locked up in a monastery for decades to keep her off the throne.) |
| 1517 | (Oct 31) Martin Luther, 95 Theses, Begin of Reformation. Luther protests the sale of Indulgences by the church.Coffee arrives in Europe for the first time. |
| 1518 | Diet of Augsburg. Luther called before Diet by Cardinal Cajetan. Luther refuses to recant. Raphael paints portrait of Pope Leo with Cardinals (Uffizi). Foundation of the Royal College of Physicians in London. The beginning of modern scientific medicine. |
| 1519 | Charles, King of Spain, also elected Holy Roman Emperor at the death of his grandfather Maximilian. Now unites all of Spain, the Low Countries, Ger. and all of new lands of America in one empire. Martin Luther, in Leipzig Disputation: questions infallibility of the Pope. Death of Leonardo da Vinci.Cortes enters Tenochtitlan, capital of Aztec empire, meets Montezuma. |
| 1520 | Pope Leo X excommunicates Martin Luther and declares him a heretic. Luther publicly burns the Papal Bull. Reformation is under way. (April 6)Death of Raphael, Rome mourns passing of an age.Magellan on his circumnavigation of globe passes through the Straits of Magellan heads into the Pacific. |
| 1521 | Death of Pope Leo X. Magellan killed in the Philippines but the expedition continues and finally reaches Portugal completing first round the world navigation. |
| 1522 | Luther finishes his translation into German of the New Testament, Wittenberg printer Hans Lufft begins to print what will be 100,000 copies over the years. Other vernacular translations follow. |
| 1523 | Elect Giulio de' Medici: Pope Clement VII (to 1534). |
| 1524 | Zurich: Zwingli abolishes the Roman Catholic Mass. |
| 1525 | Battle of Pavia. Disaster for France. King Francis I is captured. Spain now in complete control of Italy. |
| 1527 | May 5: Sack of Rome. Imperial troops loyal to King of Spain Charles (and Holy Roman Emperor) go crazy and loot the Holy City and kill more than 4,000 inhabitants and steal all the art treasures. The Pope hides in Castel Sant Angelo. Usually cited as the End of the Renaissance. |
| 1528 | King Henry VIII begins his proceedings: Requests "divorce" (annulment) from Catherine of Aragon. |
| 1530 | In Germany, write the Confession of Augsburg, to unite all of Protestant Germany. Sign the Schmalkaldic League, alliance of all Prot Ger against the Roman Catholic Emperor Charles. Germany at war. |
| 1531 | King Henry VIII recognized: Supreme Head of the church in England. |
| 1532 | John Calvin: leading the Reformation in France. |
| 1533 | ENGLAND: Thomas Cranmer becomes Archbishop of Canterbury. He proclaims marriage of Hen and Cath void and proclaims marriage of Hen and Anne Boleyn lawful. Pope excommunicates Henry. Anne crowned as Queen of England. Birth of daughter Elizabeth to Henry and Anne. FRANCE: Pope Clement VII (Medici) marries his relative Catherina de' Medici to the future King of France, Henry Valois. |
| 1534 | King Henry of England makes a final break with Rome and proclaims himself head of his own English Reformed church (Anglican international church=Episcoal in USA). Thomas Cranmer Archbishop of Canterbury. Death of Pope Clement VII, elect Alessandro Farnese as Pope Paul III. |
| 1540 | First publish versions of Copernicus' heliocentric theory. Establish the new order of the Jesuits as new troops in the Roman Catholic war with the Protestants. |
| 1543 | Publish Copernicus' De Revolutionibus: proposes the sun at the center of the universe. |
| 1545 | Convene the Council of Trent as the Roman Catholic Church tries to organize to fight the spreading Reformation (this effort to be known as the Counter Reformation). |
| 1546 | Death of Martin Luther. Michelangelo designing the dome of Saint Peter's. Titian paints his portrait of Pope Paul III and his nephews. |
| 1547 | Death of Henry VIII: succeeded by his son Edward VI (1537-1553). Death of Francis I of France. succeeded by his son Henry II(1519-1559). Birth of Cervantes(1547-1616). |
| 1549 | English church publishes the new Book of Common Prayer (much of which is written by Thomas Cranmer). |
| 1550 | Publish Giorgio Vasari's Lives of the Artists. Marks new attitude to artists: artists are special, almost divine. |
| 1553 | Death of King Edward VI of England: succeeded by his Roman Catholic half-sister Mary. |
| 1554 | Queen Mary: marries Philip of Spain, future king. |
| 1555 | Elect Giovanni Pietro Caraffa: Pope Paul IV. |
| 1556 | Charles V abdicates giving Spain to his son Philip and the Empire to his brother Ferdinand I and retires to a monastery. Queen Mary burns the Archbishop of Canterbury Thomas Cranmer at the stake when he refuses to recant his Protestantism. |
| 1558 | Mary Queen of England dies and is succeeded by her half-sister Elizabeth as Queen Elizabeth I. Protestant Church of England re-instated. Death of Charles V former King of Spain and Holy Roman Emperor. |
| 1564 | (Feb)Death of Michelangelo.(b. 1575) |
| 1564 | (Feb 15) Birth of Galileo. (d. 1642) |
| 1564 | (April 23) Birth of William Shakespeare. (d. 1616) |
| 1568 | Revolt of the Protestant Netherlands from control of Spain. Birth of new Protestant Republic of Netherlands and birth of new alliance between the two Protestant countries of Eng and Neth. |
| 1572 | Massacre of St. Bartholomew's Day, Paris: kill thousands of Protestants. |
| 1573 | Birth of Caravaggio. (d. 1609) |
| 1585 | Shakespeare comes to London. |
| 1586 | Unveil the plot to kill Queen Eliz and put Mary Queen of Scots on throne. Mary sentenced to death (executed 1587). |
| 1588 | Spanish Armada, Spain's attempt to destroy Protestant England with the cooperation of the Papacy fails. This final blow to idea of reuniting all of Europe under renewed Roman Catholic Papacy. Marlowe's Doctor Faustus. |
| 1589 | Henry of Navarre becomes King of France as Hen IV. Galileo professor of mathematics at University of Pisa. |
| 1593 | King Hen IV converts to Rom Catholicism ("Paris is well worth a mass.") |
| 1594 | Shakespeare: Romeo and Juliet. |
| 1595 | Shakespeare: A Midsummer Night's Dream. |
| 1596 | Shakespeare: Merchant of Venice. Birth of Descartes. |
| 1598 | Shakespeare: Henry V. |
| 1599 | Shakespeare: Julius Caesar. |
| 1600 | Burn Giordano Bruno on the Campo de'Fiori in Rome for heresy. King Henry IV of France marries Marie de' Medici. Shakespeare: Hamlet. |
| 1603 | Death of Queen Elizabeth of England. She is succeeded by her cousin James (Stuart) in Scotland. |
| 1610 | Galileo, The Starry Messenger, published in Venice. One of the most shocking and exciting works of scientific advance ever experienced in modern Europe. Galileo becomes an overnight sensation, a scientific rock star. Letters pour into Padua from all over Europe. |
Bibliography
General Introduction
The best one-volume introduction to Raphael is
Raphael, Roger Jones and Nicholas Penny
Yale University Press ($35.00) ISBN 0300040520.
This book is a brilliant treatment of Raphael’s career with fabulous
color photographs of the paintings and excellent background on both
his life and his works.
School of Athens
If you find the School of Athens fresco by Raphael as fascinating
as I do then you will be happy to know that there is a whole book
on the subject:
Raphael’s School of Athens, edited by Marcia Hall
Cambridge University Press ($16.95), ISBN 0521448999.
This is a selection of some of the most influential articles written
on the painting and Raphael with a fine general introduction by Marcia
Hall.
Links
The Paintings
School of Athens
School of Athens