Raphael, Painter and Architect in Rome

• The Letter to Leo X, co-written by Raphael and Baldassar Castiglione, the author of The Courtesan, is also discussed; it is one of the first texts in history on the need to protect and preserve ancient monuments

Raphael arrived in Rome in 1508 and remained there until his death in 1520, working as painter and architect for popes Julius II and Leo X and for the most prestigious patrons. Here the artist changed his painting style several times, looking at the works of Michelangelo, Sebastiano del Piombo and the vast repertoire of ancient painting and sculpture. In the Eternal City Raphael practiced architecture for the first time, designing buildings that reflected the models of Antiquity such as the Pantheon, the descriptions deriving from written sources such as Vitruvius' treaty on architecture, and the examples of modern architects like Donato Bramante.