Modello pour le retable de Sainte Cécile de Raphaël

1508–1520 · Workplace

Rome

1513

Leo X becomes pope

The death of Julius II did not interrupt the work: his successor, the Medici Pope Leo X, became Raphael's last and even closer patron, and Raphael's friend Cardinal Bibbiena was a close friend and adviser of the new pope.

1514

Chief architect of St Peter's

After Bramante's death Raphael became chief architect of the new St Peter's and continued Bramante's construction of the Vatican Loggias, whose vaults his pupils painted.

1514

Engaged to Maria Bibbiena

Raphael became engaged to Cardinal Bibbiena's niece Maria, apparently talked into it by his friend the cardinal and without much enthusiasm: the marriage had still not taken place when she died in 1520. A permanent fixture in his Roman life was “La Fornarina”, Margherita Luti, a baker's daughter.

1515

Prefect of the antiquities of Rome

Raphael was given powers as Prefect over all antiquities unearthed in Rome or within a mile of it: finds had to be reported to him within three days, and inscriptions could not be destroyed without permission. He wrote to the pope proposing ways to halt the destruction of ancient monuments and a survey to record them all.

1515

An exchange of works with Albrecht Dürer

Raphael gave Albrecht Dürer one of his drawings, and the German master sent him his self-portrait in return; its fate is unknown.