Raphael, his works and Perugino's influence on Raphael. Essay

Perugino's influence can be seen in the graded relationship between figures in the foreground and those in background. Yet, influenced by Perugino's style, Raphael managed to advance in his interpretation of the relationship among the components of the painting. Controlling the gentleness of the figures created more animated characters making very noticeable actions with a lot of movement, making it a more informal painting. He then did three smaller paintings shortly after The Marriage of the Virgin-Vision of a Knight, Three Graces, and St. Michael-a incredible examples of narrative paintings created by a precocious youth. Raphael had a fresh and maturing ability to manage the elements of his rapidly developing style. Satisfied with his gained knowledge from Perugino, it was clear the Raphael needed something different. By late 1504, his passion drove him in a different direction of Perugia.
Raphael went on to Florence where some of the Italian Renaissance's largest names lived and worked. He met big legends such as Michelangelo, Leonardo, and Fra Bartolommeo, who was another painter. Raphael studied Michelangelo's use of anatomy and Leonardo da Vinci's use of light and shadow. Florence is where Raphael made a name for himself, a big help from his astonishing paintings of Madonnas Raphael favored the style of creating Madonnas. Madonna, meaning Mary, the mother of Jesus, he portrayed her as a loving, caring, human woman. During this period, Mary was being painted as an angelic-like woman that had a lack of emotion and did not look too much like a human woman.
Some Madonnas painted by Rapael include Madonna and Child Enthroned with Saints, Esterhazy Madonna, La Belle Jardiniere, and the rightfully famous Madonna of the Goldfinch. Made in 1506, Madonna of the Goldfinch (Moradonna del Cardellino) portrays a very human Mary. She is shown holding St. John, and St. John is holding a tiny bird for Jesus Christ, an infant in the painting. Madonna of the Goldfinch is probably influenced by Leonardo's painting, The Virgin of the Rocks, the facts and figures have a strong similarity. In Madonna of the Goldfinch and a few other paintings Raphael made, he experimented with Leonardo's strong use of shade, but seemed to always return to the lighter tones that Perugino taught him.
Raphael was invited to the Vatican by Pope Julius II to paint stanzas. Pope Julius order some of the old frescos to be washed from the walls of the Vatican to make room for what would be Raphaels most notable works. The Stanza della Segnatura was the only stanza that Raphael actually painted. He would sketch other stanzas and ordered his pupils to paint what he imagined. There was a stanza for each of the four walls and each wall represented a topic. Philosophy, theology, law, poetry, each represented in their own painting. The topic of theology was represented by Disputa, Law with Jurisprudence, Parnassus with poetry, last but not least, Raphael's School of Athens this panting was a representation of men that were knowledgeable and in philosophy.