A note on the language: Even though this is an historical novel set in the sixteenth century, I use modern sentence structure, phrases, and words. This choice is purposeful. Raphael was one of the most innovative, modern artists of his day; to his own ears, he sounded modern. If I used more traditional, stilted language it would have robbed Raphael of some of his contemporary flair. The casualness of his tone is meant to reflect that he is comfortable telling his story and not in a situation where he must put on social airs.

My passion for Italian Renaissance art began with Michelangelo, but while the sculptor has been my longtime obsession, Raphael has been my constant companion and friend. As a child, even though I knew little about him, I used to lie in bed and dream about the painter of the famous pair of winged putti from the Sistine Madonna. Putting Raphael on the page—as I have heard him in my head for so long—has been a terrifying process, but necessary to achieve my goal: inspiring readers to learn more about this brilliant artist who has arguably influenced our shared visual language more than any other in history. Today, Raphael’s work seems too perfect or too expected to be adored. But that’s only because he was the first to achieve our ideals; like Shakespeare in literature, Raphael created many of our clichés in art. If you want to understand your own visual language, you must study Raphael.

Historically, Raphael is difficult to grasp. He was not a prolific poet or letter writer like Michelangelo (we have a few letters, but no great trove). Raphael also did not live long enough to dictate his own biography like Michelangelo nor did he keep extensive notebooks like Leonardo da Vinci. The major historical source for his biography is Vasari’s Lives of the Artists, but Vasari was nine years old when Raphael died, so the biographer never met the artist. Other than bawdy stories of Raphael’s sexual appetites, Vasari describes a man too perfect to be human, in my opinion. Baldassare Castiglione likely based his ideal courtier in part on Raphael, so I used his Book of the Courtier as a basis for the artist’s public personality. I’ve read as many biographies, historical documents, and academic articles on the artist as I could find. Even though many details of Raphael’s life have been lost to time, I’ve spent countless hours studying his paintings and drawings. If you want to get to know Raphael, wade into the flood of his drawings; that’s where you’ll find the spirit of this novel.