Who was Raphael? The Artist, His World, and His Painting
This week we will meet Raphael. We’ll start in his birthplace and follow his travels and growth from a young orphan to an independent master. From Urbino, to Umbria, to Florence, and finally to Rome, we’ll see how his self-education prepared him for painting in the papal palace.
Meet the Faculty Host
Presented by David Mayernik
David Mayernik ’83, Associate Professor in the School of Architecture at Notre Dame, is an artist and award-winning architect. He is the author of Timeless Cities: An Architect’s Reflections on Renaissance Italy, and The Challenge of Emulation in Art and Architecture: Between Imitation and Invention. A Fellow of the Nanovic Institute for European Studies, the American Academy in Rome, and the Royal Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce, he is a winner of the Gabriel Prize for research in France. His work for TASIS Switzerland garnered a Palladio Award from Traditional Building magazine, and early in his career he was named one of the top forty architects in the U.S. under forty years old. For several seasons, he painted stage sets for the Haymarket Opera company of Chicago’s performances of Baroque operas, and he won the competition to paint the Palio for his adopted city of Lucca in 2013. A graduate of Notre Dame, he has taught design, theory, and drawing courses both in Rome and on campus. His course The Meaning of Rome on the edX platform had 6,000 students from around the world when it was live in 2016.
Who was Raphael?
Presented by David Mayernik
The boy from Urbino — The world he was born into and his apprenticeship
Starting in Urbino where he was born, we’ll meet Raphael’s father Giovanni. We’ll then follow the orphan Raphael to the studio of Pietro Perugino, and finally, to his first independent commissions.
Raphael the mature artist
Presented by David Mayernik
Travels to Florence and Siena, and the artists who influenced him
Like his master Perugino, Raphael went to Florence to test himself and grow as an artist. Balancing study and practice, he matured into the artist that the pope would call to Rome.
Renaissance Rome
Presented by David Mayernik
Seat of the papacy, land of ancient ruins and new Renaissance works of art: This is where Raphael would spend the rest of his life
We’ll see Rome, where he was called by Julius II, the way Raphael saw it. And, we’ll learn what was expected of him there.
View the Event
Presented by David Mayernik
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Featured Speakers:
- David Mayernik, Associate Professor, School of Architecture, University of Notre Dame
- Ingrid Rowland, Professor, University of Notre Dame Rome Global Gateway
Additional Resources
Presented by David Mayernik
- Introduction to Vasari’s Life of Raphael: https://issuu.com/pallasathene0/docs/raphael_issuu
- Vasari’s Life of Raphael: https://www.gutenberg.org/files/28420/28420-h/28420-h.htm (scroll to Raffaello da Urbino [Raffaello Sanzio], p. 207)
- World History Encyclopedia entry on Renaissance Humanism: https://www.ancient.eu/Renaissance_Humanism/
- Optional: Symposium: After Raphael | The Afterlife of Raphael’s Art, from His Century to Ours with David Mayernik (2:21:50) and Ingrid Rowland (6:49).