According to Vasari, Raphael was a "very amorous man and affectionate towards
the ladies". He is said to have painted portraits of his mistress and to have
assigned the engraver il Baviera to serve as her page. When commissioned
by Agostino Chigi to decorate the Villa Farnesina, he was unable to dedicate
himself properly to his work due to his infatuation - until she was allowed to
come to live at his side. Again, according to Vasari, it was Raphael's immoderate
indulgence in "amorous pleasures", one day taken to excess, that brought on the
fever which led to the young artist's death in 1520. Although in the Pantheon he
lies beside his fiancée Maria, daughter of his patron Bernardo Dovizi, Raphael
had long delayed his marriage; on his deathbed he sent his mistress away "with
the means to live an honest life".
La Donna Velata may not be Raphael's most famous painting to the layman, but it's
considered to be in par with Leonardo's Mona Lisa. Margherita Luti (la Donna Velata) is the
same model as his painting, "La Fornarina"
Raphael--La Donna Velata
Foto KY
