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Secondary sourceBook1917

Raphael Santi

Edward McCurdy · 1917

A 1917 illustrated study of Raphael's life and paintings, part of a series on great masters, with coloured plates.

An early 20th-century study placing Raphael among the great masters of art history, with detailed analysis of his paintings.

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Raphael SantiPDF · 228 pages
Edward McCurdy, Raphael Santi, 1917. Scanned book, Internet Archive.

About this source

What it is

This is a book about Raphael written by Edward McCurdy and published in 1917 as part of "The Arundel Library of Great Masters," a series covering famous painters. It includes twenty colour illustrations of Raphael's works, produced under the supervision of the Medici Society.

Why it matters

The book is organised around Raphael's environment, personal life, place in art history, and detailed studies of specific paintings. It shows how, centuries after his death, Raphael was placed alongside other great masters like Van Dyck and Botticelli as part of a canon of essential artists for the public to study.

Look closer

  • Why do you think the book is organised into chapters like "Personality" and "Place in Art" rather than just a timeline?
  • What might the coloured plates have added for readers who could not see the original paintings?
  • How does including Raphael in a series with other painters shape how we rank historical artists?

This book is part of the curated material that grounds the AI version of Raphael on Humy.ai — when students ask about related events, the AI can quote it and cite it.

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