Customer Reviews

Raphael (Getting to Know the World's Greatest Artists)

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The book Raphael, by Mike Venezia, tells the story of the life of the Renaissance painter Raphael. This book shows some of the many paintings Raphael did throughout his life. The pictures in the book are in color and look very lifelike, so that you can see even the smallest details of his paintings. The author also tells the meanings behind some of the paintings and tells why Raphael painted them. His art was special because it shows movement and makes the people he painted look very lifelike.

This book tells about Raphael's life and what he did. Raphael was born in Urbino, Italy in 1483, and learned a lot about art from his father, who was a painter. When Raphael was older, he was apprenticed under one of the greatest artists in Italy, but soon his paintings became as good as his teacher's.

After that he painted many paintings on his own, and learned from two of the greatest artists of the Renaissance, Michelangelo and Leonardo da Vinci. He became very famous, and even became the pope's favorite painter. He died on his 37th birthday, leaving behind all his magnificent paintings.

I really enjoyed learning about Raphael's paintings, especially the Sistine Madonna and The School of Athens. I like the way the author added the cartoon pictures to the book, because it made the book more enjoyable to read. The author also did a good job of explaining about Raphael in a way that was easy to understand. I would recommend this book for kids of all ages. Even my five-year-old sister liked it!

The juxtaposition of the zany cartoons with Raphael's works is really fun. The information in the book is perfect. I love this book!

I bought all of the books in this series for our homeschool art curriculum. They are easy to read and a fun supplement that can lead to a nice trip to the Smithsonian Gallery of Art.

I love the history and my son loves the cartoon captions that are spread throughout the book.