Raphael

High Renaissance painter and architect, known for clarity and harmony.

He forms the traditional trinity of great masters of that period together with Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo.^[1] Despite his early death at 37, he was enormously productive and ran an unusually large workshop.^[2]

Last updated 2026-09-30 from the source article.

Quick Facts

Birth name: Raffaello Santi (or Sanzio)
Born: 28 March or 6 April 1483
Birthplace: Urbino, Duchy of Urbino
Died: 6 April 1520
Place of death: Rome, Papal States
Resting place: Pantheon, Rome
Field: Painting; architecture
Movement: High Renaissance

Facts from the source article.

Life and work

Raphael was born in the small but artistically significant city of Urbino, where his father Giovanni Santi was court painter to the Duke.^[3] His mother died in 1491 when he was eight, and his father died in 1494, leaving Raphael orphaned at eleven.^[4] His first documented work was the Baronci Altarpiece, commissioned in 1500 and finished in 1501.^[5][6] This first of the famous 'Raphael Rooms' remains generally regarded as his greatest masterpiece, containing The School of Athens.^[7]

He died on 6 April 1520.^[8] By December 1500, Raphael was referred to as a "master," indicating he had completed his training.^[9] Raphael relocated to Rome in 1508 and lived there for the remainder of his life.^[10]

References

Wikipedia, "Raphael" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: On Neoplatonism, see Chapter 4, "The Real and the Imaginary" , in Kleinbub, Christian K., Vision and the Visionary in Raphael, 2011, Penn State Press,; Honour, "A World History of Art", Macmillan Reference Books, 1982, p. 357 (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
Wikipedia, "Raphael" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Vasari, pp. 208, 230 and passim. (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
Wikipedia, "Raphael" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Osborne, "Urbino: The Story of a Renaissance City", p. 39 on the population, as a "few thousand" at most; even today it is only 15,000 without the students of the University (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
Wikipedia, "Raphael" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Vasari, at the start of the Life. Jones & Penny:5; "Image", z.about.com (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
Wikipedia, "Raphael" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Ettlinger & Ettlinger:20 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
Wikipedia, "Raphael" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: It was later seriously damaged during an earthquake in 1789. (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
Wikipedia, "Raphael" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Jones & Penny:49–128 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
Wikipedia, "Raphael" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Jones and Penny, and 246.; From the Latin and ultimately from biblical Hebrew. (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
Wikipedia, "Raphael" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Jones and Penny:17; Jones & Penny:2–5; Ettlinger & Ettlinger:19 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
Wikipedia, "Raphael" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Jones & Penny:49, differing somewhat from Gould:208 on the timing of his arrival; Vasari:247; Julius was no great reader—an inventory compiled after his death has a total of 220 books, large for the time, but hardly requiring such a receptacle. There was (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org

Each numbered sentence above was checked against the source it cites before publication. Sentences citing Wikipedia adapt text from the English Wikipedia article Raphael (contributors), used under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is available under the same licence. Other sources were used for facts only; no text or images are copied from them.