We are beginning to forget the COVID-19 epidemic as it slows down, but this coronavirus has always been present in human history – for example, on April 6, 1520 in Rome, Raffaello Sanzio da Urbino died of a disease caused by a coronavirus.
Popular myth states that the artist, who died in 1520 at only thirty-seven years old, was stricken with syphilis.
Renaissance master Raffaello has died of a lung disease that closely resembles the infection caused by the coronavirus, AFP reported in July 2020, citing research by an Italian historian.
Popular myth states that the artist, who died in 1520 at only thirty-seven years old, was stricken with syphilis.
The master was treated by the best doctors sent by the Pope, but he did not survive. According to the Italian painter George Vasari (1511-1574), Raphael did not share with the doctors his frequent nocturnal visits in the cold to his lovers.
In March at the time, the nights were very cold and he probably contracted pneumonia, according to medical historian Michele Augusto Riva. According to Riva, the disease of the Renaissance master is very similar to the lung inflammation that we know today as a consequence of infection with the new coronavirus.
The artist was treated with “bloodletting”, which, according to the specialist, further exhausted him. According to Riva, doctors at the time knew about the risks of this therapy in infectious diseases, but acted on the basis of wrong information. It is believed that the master’s illness lasted fifteen days.
The new investigation into the causes of Raffaello’s death was completed at the end of February, before the novel coronavirus pandemic hit the country.
It was published nearly half a year before the start of the epidemic at the end of 2020 in the journal “Internal and Emergency Medicine”.
Raffaello Sanzio da Urbino is one of the three great Renaissance masters, along with Michelangelo and Leonardo. He was born in Urbino in 1483. He received major commissions from two popes – Julius II and Leo X. Some of his works are in the Apostolic Palace in the Vatican, where he painted three rooms, and a fourth was completed by his students based on his sketches.
Other works of his are in churches and palaces in Rome. 2020 marked the 500th anniversary of his death, with exhibitions commemorating the anniversary canceled and postponed due to the novel coronavirus pandemic.
They restored Raffaello ‘s face with three-dimensional technology
The remains found in his tomb at the Pantheon really belong to the Renaissance master – a team from an Italian university has made a three-dimensional reconstruction of the face of the famous Renaissance artist Raffaello using a plaster cast of his skull, AFP reported in 2020, in the year that marks 500 years since the creator’s death.
The result of the experiment proves that the remains found in his tomb at the Pantheon really belong to the Renaissance master.
The analysis of the cast from the skull of Raffaello (1483 – 1520), discovered in 1833, when the tomb of the creator was opened, allowed the 3D reconstruction of the face of the Renaissance artist, who died at the age of 37 in Rome and was buried in the Pantheon.
“We are now certain that the remains found at the Pantheon are certainly Raffaello‘s,” said Prof. Mattia Falconi, a specialist in molecular biology at the University of Rome Tor Vergata. During the excavations around the grave of the master, many other remains were found, probably of his students.
“Facial reconstruction is an interdisciplinary technique that is based on the morphology of the skull and shows the face at the time of death,” explain Cristina Martínez-Labarga, lecturer in anthropology and Raul Carbon, lecturer in graphic design, three-dimensional modeling and virtual design.
“Their work allows for the first time to confirm that the remains found in the tomb of the Pantheon belong to Raffaello,” said the Department of Biology of the University of Rome Tor Vergata, where they compared the result of the experiment with self-portraits of the artist.
The research, carried out by the Molecular Anthropology Center for the Study of Ancient DNA at the Department of Biology of the University of Rome in collaboration with the Vigamus Foundation and the Accademia Raffaello, which runs the museum in the artist’s birthplace, is the basis for future studies on the remains to determine and his other DNA-based traits – eye color, hair color, and skin tone.
Illustration: Self-portrait of Raffaello, aged approximately 23.
