This article announces the first comprehensive U.S. exhibition on Raphael, titled "Raphael: Sublime Poetry," which offers an immersive look at the artist's meteoric career through drawings, paintings, prints, and tapestries. It traces Raphael's journey from his birth in Urbino in 1483, through his training under his poet-painter father Giovanni Santi and later Pietro Perugino, to his rise as a peer to Leonardo and Michelangelo in Florence and his final decade as the favorite artist of the popes in Rome, where he was celebrated as the "prince of painters."
This exhibition matters because it provides a rare, comprehensive view of one of the most influential artists in Western art history, whose fame towered over that of other Italian Renaissance stars for more than three centuries. By showcasing Raphael's creative process, his role as a savvy businessman and impresario, and the intertwined relationship between painting and poetry in his work, the show deepens understanding of how Raphael's innovations and collaborative methods spawned a new generation of artists and shaped European art for generations.