Italian Film Festival NZ Palmerston - Rafaello

Raphael – the Lord of the Arts –is the first film adaptation ever made on one of the most famous artists in the world, Raphael Sanzio. Few figures in the history of art have had a life so full of intensity and fascination quite like Raphael Sanzio. He died aged just 37 and yet managed to leave an indelible mark on the history of art. Head and heart, imitation and invention, courtesy and stubbornness, vice and virtue, these were the key traits of his personality. Raphael’s destiny seems to have been planted in his roots. His father, Giovanni Santi, was a painter and an intellectual at the court of Federico da Montefeltro and was probably the person who inspired him and first trained him. Orphaned at the age of eleven, the only course left open to Raphael seemed to be art. It was a courageous choice to make and one that would prove successful. At the age of just 17, he became a ‘magister’ or master, and this was the glorious beginning of his unstoppable road to fame. From child prodigy to lord of the arts in the space of just two decades, Raphael knew how to take advantage of the extraordinary human encounters in his life and turn them into a useful means to advance his career. He learned from the great masters and surpassed them, he challenged them and won, he observed their work and did better. He entered the good graces of the Pope and powerful people, he loved life and had no qualms about living it to the full, intensely and with passion.