Raphael's Influence on Gianfrancesco Penni

Although not much is known about Penni, he was definitely one of Raphael’s favorite pupils. He was born in Florence in either 1488 or 1496 to a family of weavers. He was admitted to Raphael’s workshop at a very young age. He assisted Raphael with many projects, including the “Stanze” of the Vatican and the frescoes of the Villa Farnesina in Rome. Upon Raphael’s death in 1520, he named both Romano and Penni as heirs to his implements and unfinished works, leaving them to finish his many assignments, including the Transfiguration, the Coronation of the Virgin, the Assumption, and the Hall of Constantine in the Vatican. He himself did some jobs for Clement VII until he left Rome in 1526. He attempted to join back up with Romano who had moved on to Mantua, but was allegedly poorly received, and so instead moved to Naples, where he died by unknown causes in 1528. His two brothers were also artists. Bartolommeo joined the Tudor court of Henry VIII as an artist, while Luca became a student of the School of Fontainebleau.