April 6, 2020

Today, April 6, marks 500 years since the death of the Italian painter Raphael in 1520. Raphael was one of the greatest and most influential painters of the Italian Renaissance. His graceful figures and skillful compositions influenced artists up to the early 1900′s. The period of his activity is called the High Renaissance. Raphael painted altarpieces, frescoes (paintings on damp plaster) of historical and mythological scenes, and portraits. His most popular works include his gentle paintings of the Madonna and Child. Raphael was also an architect. From 1514 until his death, he directed the construction of St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome.

Raphael’s School of Athens shows a gathering of ancient Greek philosophers and scientists in a Roman architectural setting. Standing in the center are Plato, left, and Aristotle, right. The harmony and balance of the composition are typical of the revival of classicism in the period called the High Renaissance. Credit: Fresco (1510-1511); The Vatican, Rome (The Art Archive)

To mark the quincentenary (500th anniversary) of Raphael’s death, the National Portrait Gallery at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C., is running an exhibition called “Raphael and His Circle” from February 16 through June 14. (Unfortunately, all museums at the Smithsonian Institution were closed temporarily beginning in March because of the COVID-19 pandemic.) The exhibition includes 26 prints and drawings by Raphael’s contemporaries—his “circle”—as well as four drawings by the master himself. In Italy, the Galleria Nazionale delle Marche ran a Raphael exhibition in the artist’s hometown of Urbino from October 2019 to January 2020. Other Raphael tributes are taking place at the Scuderie del Quirinale in Rome, the Veneranda Biblioteca Ambrosiana in Milan, and at the National Gallery and the Victoria and Albert Museum in London.

The Prophets Hosea and Jonah by Raphael. Credit: The Prophets Hosea and Jonah (1510), pen and brown ink with brown wash over black chalk, heightened with white and squared for transfer on laid paper by Raphael; National Gallery of Art

Raphael was born in Urbino on March 28 or April 6, 1483. His real name was Raffaello Sanzio. His father served as court painter to the Duke of Urbino. About 1494, Raphael went to Perugia to study with Perugino, an important painter. Perugino introduced Raphael to the latest ideas in Italian art and greatly influenced his student’s style.

Raphael settled in Florence in 1504. In Florence, Raphael studied the paintings of the great Italian artist Leonardo da Vinci. Leonardo da Vinci’s balanced compositions and idealized figures had a strong influence on all Renaissance painters, including Raphael.

Late in 1508, Pope Julius II asked Raphael to work for him in Rome. Julius wanted to rebuild and redecorate Rome to reflect its ancient glory. He gathered together the most illustrious architects, painters, and sculptors from all parts of Italy. Raphael created his finest work while in the service of Julius and his successor, Pope Leo X. With the assistance of a large workshop, Raphael produced religious paintings, tapestry designs, palace decorations, and portraits. He died in Rome at age 37 on April 6, 1520, after a short illness.

January 9, 2017

When it comes to mythical figures, few have greater literary fame than the pious Trojan and Roman hero, Aeneas. Son of the human prince Anchises and the Greek goddess Aphrodite, Aeneas was a demigod. There was nothing half-god about his exploits, however. Aeneas compiled such a legendary record, in fact, that he is the subject of one of the world’s greatest poems of heroic adventure, the Aeneid.

This painting shows Aeneas carrying his father, Anchises, as they flee the destruction of Troy. Credit: Aeneas Fleeing Troy oil painting by Pompeo Batoni (1708-1787), Galleria Sabauda, Turin, Italy (© Scala/Art Resource)

The powerful goddess Aphrodite (called Venus by the Romans) enjoyed making other gods fall in love with mortals. As punishment for her mischief, Zeus—the top god in Greek mythology—forced the same fate upon Aphrodite, who fell in love with a mere man, Anchises of Troy. The result of their love was Aeneas, who grew up to be a famous and powerful Trojan soldier. Largely through the protection of Aphrodite and other gods, Aeneas survived the tragedy that befell his home during the Trojan War.

According to the Aeneid (written by the Roman poet Virgil), after the fall of Troy, Aeneas fled the ruined city with his father and his son Ascanius. On nearby Mount Ida, Aeneas gathered the few other Trojan survivors and sailed away to found a new home. They stopped at various places and had many adventures. In the city of Carthage in northern Africa, Aeneas met Queen Dido. She fell in love with Aeneas, but his destiny and sense of duty (Aeneas’s descendants—namely Romulus and Remus—would found the great city of Rome) forced him to leave Carthage. Dido was so distraught that she committed suicide.

Aeneas finally arrived in Italy. There, he visited the underworld, where he learned about Rome’s future glory. Aeneas then traveled to the Italian region of Latium (now often called Lazio), where he became friends with King Latinus. Aeneas married the king’s daughter Lavinia and founded the port city of Lavinium. Aeneas later disappeared from the mortal world during a battle with a neighboring people called the Etruscans. According to some versions of the myth, he was taken to heaven and became the god Jupiter Indiges.

Aeneas never disappeared from legend, however, thanks to the great poet Virgil. He wrote the Aeneid between 30 and 19 B.C., a period of national pride for the Romans (and some 1,200 years after the Trojan War). The emperor Augustus had just united the people of the Italian peninsula to defeat Rome’s enemies in the eastern provinces. Virgil chose the myth of Aeneas to express ancient Rome’s moral and religious values and to honor Augustus, who claimed to be descended from Aeneas.

May 26, 2016

Rome, the capital of Italy and one of the world’s great historic cities, is in need of financial help. This week, cash-strapped city authorities asked if anyone might be interested in, say—adopting the Roman Forum? Much in the same way that people “adopt” highways in-between American cities, officials are asking for donations to maintain, preserve, and renovate Rome’s many famous sites and ancient ruins. In return, adopters can be credited on site as well as in their classical consciences. The Eternal City’s “100 proposals for patrons” campaign lists sites badly in need of restoration, including the Forum, the Ludus Magnus gladiator school, and the Theater of Pompey where Julius Caesar was murdered in 44 B.C. The restoration list also includes many less famous (and many less aged) but equally important aqueducts, baths, fountains, landmarks, parks, and piazzas.

Rome is asking for donations to help preserve such ancient sites as the Colosseum, also known as the Flavian Amphitheater. Credit: © Shutterstock

Corporate sponsors have long helped preserve ancient sites in Rome and other Italian cities. The Fendi fashion house recently paid to restore Rome’s Trevi Fountain—appropriately the scene of one of cinema’s great “fashion” moments in Federico Fellini’s La Dolce Vita. The exclusive menswear maker Brioni fixed up the Babuino Fountain, one of Rome’s famous “talking statues” (places for anonymous political commentary). The luxury jeweler Bulgari put the spring back in the Spanish Steps, and the founder of Tod’s leather goods and shoes is footing the bill for costly repairs to the Colosseum (which is in constant need). Foreign nations have also chipped in, including Azerbaijan on the Caspian Sea, which restored a room of Rome’s Capitoline Museums. This new fund drive, however, marks the first time Rome has publicly gone looking for culturally tuned wealthy individuals. Small donations are accepted, however: a gift of just over $300 will pay for weeding around Trajan’s Column. But to pay the total maintenance and restoration price tag of $550 million, the city is hoping for deep-pocketed friends, Romans, and countrymen. The city is deeply in debt and needs all its funds to maintain roads, schools, sidewalks, subways, and other modern necessities.

April 21, 2014

Rome, the Eternal City, is celebrating its birthday today. Officially, the city is now 2,767 years old. However, a recent archaeological discovery suggests that Rome may actually be 200 years older that.

According to popular tradition, the city was founded on April 21, 753 B.C., by legendary twins Romulus and Remus. They were the sons of Mars, the Roman god of war. An evil king ordered the infant twins placed in a basket and thrown into the Tiber River. After floating downstream, the twins were washed ashore. A female wolf found the infants and nursed them. As adults, they founded the first settlement at Rome. Later, a dispute between the brothers led to the death of Remus, and Romulus named the city for himself. Romulus, Remus, and the wolf became an important symbol of Rome. Several ancient statues show the babies with their animal protector.

The legendary founders of Rome were twin brothers named Romulus and Remus. According to Roman mythology, a wolf nursed them as babies. (Bronze sculpture; Museum del Palazzo dei Conservatori, Rome (SCALA/Art Resource))

Since 2009, archaeologist Patrizia Fortuni, of the Cultural Superintendency of Rome, has led excavations at Lapis Niger, an ancient Roman shrine built of black rock in the center of the Roman Forum. In a previous excavation, the site produced an artifact known as the lex sacra, which is inscribed with the oldest known example of Latin writing, dated to 565 B.C. In even deeper levels, the archaeologists uncovered pieces of an ancient wall beneath the Forum that was constructed from tufa, a kind of limestone, beneath the site. Fragments of pottery and preserved grain were also recovered from this lowest level. The pottery fragments allowed the archaeologists to use a technique called seriation to establish a chronological date for the limestone wall of between about 900 and 800 B.C., about 200 years older than the date of the traditional origin of the city.

The Roman poet Virgil wrote of the legend of Romulus and Remus around 30 B.C. in the Aeneid, one of the world’s greatest poems of heroic adventure. Virgil drew from earlier legends and folklore for his famous work, which became the national epic of ancient Rome. But archaeologists and historians have long known that the legend of Rome’s founding had little basis in fact. Archaeological evidence shows the city formed through a gradual process of settlement by people called the Latins over many years around the area of the Palatine Hill. Over many years, the small farming community known as Latium on the bank of the Tiber River in central Italy grew to become the capital of one of the greatest empires in history.

Additional World Book articles:

• Clothing (Rome)
• Etruscans
• Sabines
• World, History of the (the Romans)