Святое семейство

By 1518 Raphael was the most sought-after painter in Rome, buried under commissions from the pope and half the courts of Europe, and he could not possibly paint them all himself. He ran a large, well-drilled workshop, and for pictures like this Holy Family he would supply the design and let gifted assistants, above all the young Giulio Romano, carry much of the execution. Tender domestic groupings like this, the Virgin and Joseph with the Christ Child set against Roman ruins and open country, were prized as gifts, and several found their way into the Spanish royal collection. Raphael kept up this punishing pace only a little longer. He died in Rome in 1520, on his 37th birthday, according to his early biographer Vasari.