Raffaello Sanzio da Urbino or Raffaello Santi (1483-1520), Master of Urbino, also known as Raphael, was a great Italian painter, graphic artist and architect of the High Renaissence, celebrated for the perfection and grace of his paintings and drawings. His works “The School of Athens” and “Sistine Madonna” are considered one of the most perfect in the world of art.
Of the three masters of High Renaissance art, Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo Buonarroti and Raffaello Sanzio, Raphael is the artist most revered for his sublime grace. His mastery of perfect balance in composition, his harmonious arrangements of freely moving figures, the calm, contemplative facial expression of his subjects – all of this creates a luminous quality unmatched in brilliance and beauty. The consummate “uomo universal” (universal genius), Raphael was famed even among his contemporaries – and is still admired today for the genius that produced such a prodigious body of work within such a short lifetime.
Though most of his artistic development would take place in Florence and Rome, Raphael was born in Urbino in 1483; as a young man practising in the workshop of Perugino, he learned the foundations of a style that valued harmony of form and composition. As though aware of the greatness of his budding talent, Raphael foresaw the significance of his own genius, signing one of his earliest works, the “Marriage of the Virgin”, not obscured on the edges of the picture but proudly, right in the centre on the architrave of the temple. In similar daring fashion, inscribing “Raphael Urbinas” on the bare arm of his Roman mistress Margherita Luti in “La Fornarina” – one of the few works ever signed by the artist; he boldly lays claim to her, to the painting and to his own formidable talent.
Having absorbed, in a short period of time, all the achievements of Florentine art, Raphael travelled to Rome at the age of 25. Quickly becoming the favoured painter of the Vatican, be received important commissions from Pope Julius II and Leo X. His arched frescoes in the Vatican loggia and his dramatic masterpieces in the papal apartments, the “stanze”, reveal the full flowering of his talent at the high point of his artistry.
Like Michelangelo and Leonardo, Raphael was a genius for whom one genre was not enough to contain his creativity. He was not only a painter, drawer and designer, but also an architect. Expressing full confidence in Raphael’s abilities in this field, Pope Julius II named him master builder of St. Peter’s, the most important architectural office bestowed by the papal court, and put him in charge of the conservation of the ancient monument of Rome. For the first time since classical antiquity, Rome had once again risen to the centre of European art, with Raphael among its most influential players drafting chapels, palaces and country estates, such as the unfinished Villa Madama, creating models of style and taste for Rome’s most distinguished families.
Limited Edition 83
Whether portraits, frescoes, landscapes or villas, Raphael’s works have a powerful ability to inspire. Such flawless beauty, such fullness of form and emotion, can only come from the hand of a genius. Montblanc honors that genius with this dedicated writing instrument, limited to only 83 pieces in celebration of the year of Raphael’s birth, 1483.
The design of this writing instrument with Au750 solid gold skeleton overlay is mainly inspired by the typical ornaments of the Italian Renaissance which reflects filigree hand work and craftmanship. The bright blue colour of the enamel reflects one of the main colours Raffaello used in his paintings. The eye is delighted by the deep red glint of the single Mozambique garnet adorning the clip. In a final flourish of ornamentation, a ring encircling the cap with the artist’s signature “Raphael Urbinas”, brings to life the armband worn by “La Fornarina”.
The cap top is crowned with mother-of-pearl Montblanc emblem and the 18K gold nib with a hand-engraved Angel recalling those sweetest and gentlest of cherubs, who linger at the feet of the Sistine Madonna, depicts the exclusivity of the Limited Edition Fountain Pen 83.
In addition, Montblanc also released four red enamelled pens with 18Kgold details and green garnet, and only one Limited Edition in gold and diamonds.
Launch 2010
