Timoteo Viti (
Urbino
Urbino ( , ; Romagnol: ''Urbìn'') is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Italy, Italian region of Marche, southwest of Pesaro, a World Heritage Site notable for a remarkable historical legacy of independent Renaissance culture, especially und ...
, 1469 – 1523, Urbino), sometimes called Timoteo della Viti or Timoteo da Urbino, was an
Italian Renaissance painter, who was closely associated with
Raphael
Raffaello Sanzio da Urbino (; March 28 or April 6, 1483April 6, 1520), now generally known in English as Raphael ( , ), was an Italian painter and architect of the High Renaissance. List of paintings by Raphael, His work is admired for its cl ...
, who was fourteen years his junior.
Career
Born in
Urbino
Urbino ( , ; Romagnol: ''Urbìn'') is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Italy, Italian region of Marche, southwest of Pesaro, a World Heritage Site notable for a remarkable historical legacy of independent Renaissance culture, especially und ...
, Viti was the grandson of the painter
Antonio Alberti; his father was also a painter. According to
Vasari
Giorgio Vasari (30 July 1511 – 27 June 1574) was an Italian Renaissance painter, architect, art historian, and biographer who is best known for his work '' Lives of the Most Excellent Painters, Sculptors, and Architects'', considered the ide ...
and
Malvasia
Malvasia (), also known as Malvazia, is a group of wine grape varieties grown historically in the Mediterranean region and Macaronesia, but now grown in many of the winemaking regions of the world. In the past, the names Malvasia, Malvazia, ...
, Viti was apprenticed to
Francesco Francia in
Bologna
Bologna ( , , ; ; ) is the capital and largest city of the Emilia-Romagna region in northern Italy. It is the List of cities in Italy, seventh most populous city in Italy, with about 400,000 inhabitants and 150 different nationalities. Its M ...
between 1490 and 1495; aspects of Viti's style would seem to confirm an apprenticeship in Bologna. In 1495 he returned to Urbino and replaced
Giovanni Santi, the recently deceased father of Raphael, as painter to the small but brilliant court there. He completed paintings of the ''Muses'' in the
Ducal Palace that Santi had left unfinished.
The precocious Raphael, who was eleven at his father's death, continued to run his father's workshop with help from his family. It has often been speculated that Viti contributed to Raphael's training. In any case they remained friends, and Viti obtained or inherited the most important group of Raphael's studio drawings, which his descendants sold to
Pierre Crozat in the 17th century. Drawings have often been disputed between the two artists in the past, and Viti has also been accused of forging some Raphael drawings (though it seems now accepted this was someone else).
In 1503 Viti was painting banners for
Cesare Borgia
Cesare Borgia (13 September 1475 – 12 March 1507) was a Cardinal (Catholic Church)#Cardinal_deacons, cardinal deacon and later an Italians, Italian ''condottieri, condottiero''. He was the illegitimate son of Pope Alexander VI of the Aragonese ...
, who had expelled Duke
Guidobaldo da Montefeltro as lord of the city. Guidobaldo regained Urbino in 1504 and Viti, along with
Girolamo Genga, was commissioned by Bishop Arrivabene to decorate the chapel of
S Martino in the cathedral. He continued to work successfully in the Marches for the rest of the decade, and as far south as
Siena
Siena ( , ; traditionally spelled Sienna in English; ) is a city in Tuscany, in central Italy, and the capital of the province of Siena. It is the twelfth most populated city in the region by number of inhabitants, with a population of 52,991 ...
, where he and Genga collaborated on paintings in the Palazzo Petrucci in about 1508.

Around 1514, Viti formed part of the large team assembled by Raphael and worked on the frescoes Raphael designed in the Chigi Chapel in
Santa Maria della Pace in
Rome
Rome (Italian language, Italian and , ) is the capital city and most populated (municipality) of Italy. It is also the administrative centre of the Lazio Regions of Italy, region and of the Metropolitan City of Rome. A special named with 2, ...
. It has been suggested that he is depicted (as the Ancient Greek painter Protogenes) in ''
The School of Athens
''The School of Athens'' () is a fresco by the Italian Renaissance artist Raphael. It was painted between 1509 and 1511 as part of a commission by Pope Julius II to decorate the rooms now called the in the Apostolic Palace in Vatican City.
...
'', Raphael's most famous work, standing next to Raphael's
self-portrait
Self-portraits are Portrait painting, portraits artists make of themselves. Although self-portraits have been made since the earliest times, the practice of self-portraiture only gaining momentum in the Early Renaissance in the mid-15th century ...
, although
Vasari
Giorgio Vasari (30 July 1511 – 27 June 1574) was an Italian Renaissance painter, architect, art historian, and biographer who is best known for his work '' Lives of the Most Excellent Painters, Sculptors, and Architects'', considered the ide ...
does not mention this identification.

Raphael's mature style influenced him for a period afterwards, as can be seen in the large altarpiece depicting ''Noli me Tangere'', and in the foreground the ''Archangel Michael defeating Satan and St Anthony Abbot'' (c. 1512) for the church of
Sant'Angelo Minore in
Cagli (Pesaro). In later works he rejected Raphael's influence and looked back to the art of the late 15th century. In his last paintings (such as the ''Mary Magdalene'' of 1521 in
Gubbio Cathedral) his style became heavier, possibly as a result of the increasing intervention of pupils.
[Concise Grove op cit.]
According to
Vasari
Giorgio Vasari (30 July 1511 – 27 June 1574) was an Italian Renaissance painter, architect, art historian, and biographer who is best known for his work '' Lives of the Most Excellent Painters, Sculptors, and Architects'', considered the ide ...
, Timoteo was an artist, a poet, and a musician. He was also politically active in Urbino. He served as magistrate in 1508 and chief magistrate in 1513.
References
External links
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Viti, Timoteo
1469 births
1523 deaths
15th-century Italian painters
Italian male painters
16th-century Italian painters
Painters from Urbino
Italian Renaissance painters