His Madonnas made him a master of the Italian Renaissance revered by the most significant painters, from Jacques-Louis David to Pablo Picasso, including Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres and Eugène Delacroix. With a soft and suave brush, the divine Raphael (1483–1520) is the author of famous frescoes for the Vatican. More than a painter, Raphaël is a true myth of the history of art: precocious talent, lover of Fornarina, enamored with antiquity, he knew how to combine the greatness of a Michelangelo with the modeling of a Leonardo da Vinci. It alone sums up the spirit of the Renaissance.
