“The Roman emperor, Augustus famously boasted that he had inherited a city of brick and was leaving one of marble.” Roman History Book:Young Michelangelo: The Path to the Sistine Source: Young Michelangelo: The Path to the Sistine
“Mamo, the Italian word for marble, comes from the Greek marmairein, meaning “to shine”. Geologically speaking, marble is limestone transformed by the heat and pressure of the earth’s crust into a medium-hard, crystalline rock. Cold to the touch, marble yields willingly to the sculptor’s chisel. Over time, white statuary acquires an ivory patina remarkably evocative of the warmth of human flesh.” Marble Statues Book:Young Michelangelo: The Path to the Sistine Source: Young Michelangelo: The Path to the Sistine
“With Ghirlandaio and Fillipino Luppi dead, and Botticelli in a permanent state of depression, Raphael found an affluent audience starved for works of the highest quality. Florentine mercantile society fell in love with his potrayals of the Madonna and Child and the Holy Family-and with him, personally, for his gentle character. The provincialism of his master Perugino had heretofore kept Raphael’s genius under wraps. Leonardo taught him the power of unified, lucid compositions based on geometry, particularly the triangle and the circle. During Michelangelo’s absence, Raphael’s company was sought by everyone, including Michelangelo’s valued friends Taddeo Taddei and Agnolo Doni. In fact, he was such a frequent guest at Taddei’s home, where he would have had plenty of opportunities to study Michelangelo’s tondo, that Raphael gave his patron two paintings as thanks for his many kindnesses, and painted the Madonna deil Cardellino as a wedding gift for his friend Lorenzo Nasi, Taddei’s cousin. In 1505, the Carrera year, Raphael painted the portraits of Doni and his wife, Maddalena. The out-of-towner whom Michelangelo had dismissed as a mere nuisance had grown up.” Rafael Book:Young Michelangelo: The Path to the Sistine Source: Young Michelangelo: The Path to the Sistine