If Quattrocento was characterized by a plurality of artistic centers, at the head of which was the Florentine "big workshop", then in the next century Rome became the main center. At the same time, another center of art is developing, which in the future will become very influential: Venice.
But for the first twenty years of the Cinquecento, Florence was still the capital of the arts. It was there that Raphael worked, who came to study the work of Leonardo, Michelangelo and Fra Bartolommeo, as well as to comprehend the subtleties of anatomy, the technique of light and sentimental expression. During his stay in Florence, he painted numerous Madonnas, including a beautiful gardener full of tenderness. Summoned to Rome by Pope Julius II in 1508, he received an order to paint the personal papal rooms (stanzas) of the Vatican Palace, which was the beginning of his intensive work in the service of the Holy See.
In addition to these works, for the execution of which he creates his own workshop, the artist is engaged in easel painting, in particular, he writes St. Michael, commissioned by Lorenzo Medici as a gift to Francis I. Today this painting is part of the Louvre collection, as well as another - a small - St. Michael and St. George, probably written for the Duke of Montefeltre.
Raphael's brushes, in addition, belong to several strikingly true portraits, for example, the portrait of Baldassare Castiglione. For three centuries, Raphael's work enjoyed extraordinary popularity, including in France. The creation of the legend around his name was partly facilitated by the sudden death of the master at the age of thirty-seven.
