Letter from Signorelli to Corrado Tarlatini (recto), paper, Pierpont Morgan Library, New York, Ms. MA 4261 (purchased as the gift of Mrs. Landon K. Thorne, Jr., 1985). Copyright: Pierpont Morgan Library.

†John Shearman

John Shearman (1931-2003) was the leading expert on Raphael in the second half of the 20th century, culminating in his posthumous publication of the 2 volume corpus of Raphael in Early Modern Sources - 1483-1602, New Haven and London, 2003. A student, and subsequently a lecturer at the Courtauld Institute of Art, Shearman catalogued the early Italian paintings in the Royal Collection (1983) and published a separate monograph on the Raphael Cartoons (1972). He also published books on Andrea del Sarto (1965), Mannerism (1967) and lectures on audience reception (Only Connect, 1992). In 1979 Shearman left the Courtauld for Princeton and subsequently moved to Harvard where he taught until his retirement in 2002. His numerous publications on Raphael are fundamental to all modern studies of the artist.