It was for this achievement that Raphael has remained famous throughout the
centuries. Perhaps those who connect his name only with beautiful Madonnas and
idealized figures from the classical world may even be surprised to see
Raphael's portrait of his great patron Pope Leo X of the Medici family, in the
company of two cardinals. There is nothing idealized in the slightly puffed head
of the near- sighted Pope, who has just examined an old manuscript (somewhat
similar in style and period to the Queen Mary's Psalter. The velvets and damasks
in their various rich tones add to the atmosphere of pomp and power, but one can
well imagine that these men are not at ease. These were troubled times, for we
remember that at the very period when this portrait was painted Luther had
attacked the Pope for the way he raised money for the new St Peter's. It so
happens that it was Raphael himself whom Leo X had put in charge of this
building enterprise after Bramante had died in 1514, and thus he had also become
an architect, designing churches, villas and palaces and studying the ruins of
ancient Rome. Unlike his great rival Michelangelo, though, he got on well with
people and could keep a busy workshop going. Thanks to his sociable qualities
the scholars and dignitaries of the papal court made him their companion. There
was even talk of his being made a cardinal when he died on his thirty-seventh
birthday, almost as young as Mozart, having crammed into his brief life an
astonishing diversity of artistic achievements.