Raphael is recognized as one of the "three masters" in the Italian Renaissance painting circle (the other "two masters" are Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo), although he was only 37 years old when he died, Painting only took about 15 years, but he left a large number of exquisite paintings for later generations, especially his Madonna statue, which can be said to be unparalleled. The image of the Virgin Mary created by him is holy and gentle, making people feel that she is both a god in the sky and a loving mother in the world. However, his inspiration for the Madonnas, especially the Sistine Madonna, came from his lover, Donna Verata.
Donna Verata is the daughter of a baker in Siena, Raphael's favorite. Whether in the history of art or in the kingdom of love, she is known as "La Fornarina".
Earlier, while Verata was living with his father in the house of Via di Santo Dorotea in Rome, Raphael was called by Pope Julius II to Rome to undertake a great work. Work - decoration for St. Peter's Church. "Verata, the beautiful maiden," wrote Passavant, "is often seen in the little garden that adjoins the house, and whose walls are not so high that it is not difficult to see her figure from outside. Therefore, the young Artists often climbed the wall to stare at her. It is said that when Raphael first saw her, she was washing her beautiful feet under a small fountain in the garden. She fell in love with her. After meeting her, Raphael found that her heart was as beautiful as her appearance, and she fell in love with her even more so that she could not live without her.”
At that time, those noble friends of Raphael found the young and handsome artist to be a rare good-for-nothing man, more so than the Cardinal, than Bernard. His "niece" was attracted by Raphael's wise eyes, and often sighed and fell in love with him; besides, another nobler and more beautiful Roman girl was also in love with him, if he would marry her, She and her relatives have even prepared to give him 3,000 gold coins as a dowry. However, in Raphael's eyes, with Verata, "three thousand beauties have no color", for this reason, he did not hesitate to delay his wedding with Maria da Bibena, even though she was a powerful red dress Bishop Bibben's niece (perhaps daughter). It is even said that Raphael caused Maria to die of a heart attack.
Under the circumstances, Raphael had to place the baker's daughter Verata as a couple in a comfortable, private residence adjacent to her workplace, visiting from time to time after her hard work. Years later, the house where Velata lived was hung with a sign with the inscription: "According to historical sources, the man whom Raphael loved and made famous lived here." In
this way, the bread The teacher's daughter had at least a taste of high society life, and although the bishop's "niece" and other Roman ladies had long enjoyed this rich and illustrious life, they were unable to transfer the painting genius Raphael from the commoner maiden Vera. Take away the side of the tower. In Raphael's two portraits of her, "La Fornarina" and "Donna Verata" ("Woman with the Veil"), the former depicts a person with a beautiful upper body half-naked and a hand Covering the most sensitive parts of women, wearing the armband of Venus; the latter Raphael painted the costumes of the people in the painting to be elegant and luxurious, in line with the identity of the upper class. But the greatest honor of Verrata was to be chosen by Raphael as the model for "The Sistine Madonna," a masterpiece that kept the painter and his lover alive. La Fornarina, Donna Verata and the supreme Sistine Madonna were all written in 1516, the year of Raphael's greatest achievement and his love affair with Verata year. Verata's charisma enabled Raphael to maximize his talent and create the "Sistine Madonna", which represented his artistic peak.
Unfortunately, one day after 4 years, Rafael returned to the residence after a tryst with Verata, and he fell ill with a severe fever. His illness was misdiagnosed as a cold, and the doctors rashly bled him. Exhausted Raphael and eventually died. A devout Christian, Raphael made a will to have Verata move out of the house, while leaving her a sizable legacy that would enable her to live with dignity.
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