Authors

Raffaello Sanzio (Urbino, 6th April 1483 - Rome, 6th April 1520), was also known as Raphael of Urbino or simply Raphael. He was an Italian painter and architect of the Renaissance. In addition to his paintings which would be admired and imitated for centuries, he made important contributions to architecture and as an inspector of antiquities, was interested in the study and conservation of Greco-Roman remains.The son of a modestly important painter, he was considered a child prodigy due to his precocious ability and after his father died, he trained in the workshops of several prestigious artists. At the age of 25 he received his first official commission, the decoration of the Vatican "Stanze” or rooms, where he painted frescoes such as The School of Athens, considered one of h...

Lavinia Fontana (Bologna, baptised on 24th August 1552 - Rome, 11th August 1614) was an Italian painter of the early Baroque or late Mannerist period. One of the most important painters of her time, she ran her own studio and was the official court painter to Pope Clement VIII. She has an extensive catalogue of works, of which 135 are known to have existed, although only 32 dated and signed works have survived.

Pietro da Cortona, whose real name was Pietro Berettini (or Berrettini) (Cortona, 1st November 1596 - Rome, 16th May 1669) was an Italian painter and architect....

Mengs, Anton Raphael. Aussig, Bohemia, now Ústi nad Labem (Czechia), 12.03.1728 – Rome (Italy), 29.06.1779. Painter and art theorist.He was the son of Ismael Mengs (1688-1764), court painter to Frederick Augustus II, Elector of Saxony, and of Charlotte Bormann; and the brother of Therese Concordia, (1725-1806/8), also a painter and miniaturist. Rigidly educated by his father in painting, enamel work and miniatures, he also learnt pastel drawing techniques, which was highly fashionable at the Court. After his mother's death (1731), he spent his childhood in Dresden until 1740. In 1741 the family moved to Rome, where he continued his studies by making copies of Michelangelo and Raphael at the Vatican; studied anatomy at the Arcispedale di Santo Spirito in Rome and attended t...