FOLLOW THE RAPHAEL TRAIL

VATICAN MUSEUMS

As well as the frescos in the Raphael Stanze (rooms), which you pass through on the visitor route to the Sistine Chapel, the showpiece gallery of the Pinacoteca holds the tapestries depicting the life of Saint Peter and Saint Paul, which Raphael designed for the walls of the chapel. It also has three of his most important altarpieces, including The Transfiguration, his last painting, which Vasari described as “the most famous, the most beautiful and most divine”.

Mon-Thur 9am-6pm, Fri-Sat 9am-10.30pm, admission

£14 – free entry on last Sunday of the month 9am-2pm (m.museivaticani.va)

VILLA FARNESINA

The Villa Farnesina, on the far side of the Tiber, is one of the great secret sights of Rome and rarely crowded with visitors. Built between 1506 and 1510 as a mini pleasure palace by Agostino Chigi (who was banker to the Pope), it is surrounded by gardens of citrus trees, box hedges and magnolias. At Chigi’s wild dinner parties he would demonstrate his wealth and (supposed) extravagance by instructing his guests to throw their silver plates out of the window and into the Tiber. However, he had already installed nets under the water so that he could retrieve them later. He was also one of Raphael’s most important patrons – the chief attractions of the villa today are the frescoes of naked nymphs which Raphael designed and (partly) executed. In the loggia, they depict the legend of Cupid and Psyche and, in the room next door, the Venus-like Triumph of Galatea.

Mon-Sat 9am-2pm, admission £13 (villafarnesina.it)

THE CHURCHES

Around the same time as the Villa Farnesina frescos (probably

in 1511), Chigi also commissioned Raphael to decorate his family chapel in the little church of Santa Maria della Pace, just off the Piazza Navona. Raphael never finished the work, but his depiction of four Sybils just above the chapel shows the influence of Michelangelo’s Sistine ceiling. The same is true of another fresco Raphael made around the same time

in the nearby church of Sant’Agostino. This time it depicts the Prophet Isaiah.

A couple of years later, Raphael created a much more ambitious octagonal funerary chapel in green, red and white marble which he made for the Chigis in Santa Maria del Popolo. He never completed the altar painting (that was done by Sebastiano del Piombo), but the two statues of Jonah and the whale, and the Prophet Elijah are the only two sculptures that Raphael designed. Finally, the only other example of Raphael’s architectural prowess is the little church of Sant’Eligio degli Orefici for which he conceived the interior in 1509.

GALLERIA BORGHESE

The Villa Borghese, built 100 years after the Villa Farnesina by Cardinal Scipione Borghese holds one of the world’s greatest art collections including seminal paintings by Titian, Rubens and Caravaggio, and some of Bernini’s greatest sculptures. It also has three important works by Raphael – The Deposition, a beguiling portrait of a young woman holding a baby unicorn and an early portrait of an unknown man.

Tues-Sun 9am-7pm, advance booking compulsory, £13 plus £2 online booking fee (galleriaborghese. beniculturali.it/en)

PALAZZO BARBERINI

The great Raphael attraction in this collection is his portrait of a dark-eyed beauty known as La Fornarina (the baker’s daughter). She is naked to the waist and wears an armband inscribed with Raphael’s name. We don’t know for sure who she is, or why he painted her, but it is assumed that she must have been his mistress. Tues-Sun 10am-6pm, £10 (barberinicorsini.org)

GALLERIA DORIA

PAMPHILI

This splendid 17th-century palazzo is still in private hands and it is home to one of those strange collections which includes a large number of unexceptional paintings, but also a handful of astonishing masterpieces. Among these is Raphael’s intriguing double portrait of two of his friends – Andrea Navagero and Agostino Beazzano.

Mon-Thurs 10am-7pm, Fri-Sun 10am-8pm, £12 plus £1 compulsory reservation fee (doriapamphilj.it)

THE PANTHEON

By the time he died, in 1520, Raphael had amassed a substantial fortune. It was enough to secure a prestigious spot for his tomb in the Pantheon – the former Roman temple which had been consecrated as the church of St Mary and the Martyrs. It was an impressive funeral; his body was carried by four cardinals and the Pope is rumoured to have kissed the dead artist’s hand. His body still lies in a marble sarcophagus alongside that of his fiancée, Maria Bibbiena.

Mon-Sat, 9am-6.30pm,

Sun 9am-1pm, free admission

i ‘Prestigious spot’: Raphael’s tomb lies in the Pantheon h The Transfiguration was the last painting by the artist hh His Isaiah fresco was influenced by Michelangelo’s work