Raphael
Italy, 1483–1520

An Italian painter, draftsman, and architect, Raphael (ra-fee-ul) was born in Rome in
1483 and died on April 6, 1520. He has always been acknowledged as one of the
greatest European artists. He was also one of the most famous painters working in
Italy at the time of Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo.

His early altarpieces were made in Perugia (1500–1507). Between 1504 and 1508 in
Florence, he created some of his finest portraits and a series of devotional paintings
of the Holy Family. In 1508, he moved to Rome and decorated in fresco papal
apartments in the Vatican Palace. It was in Rome that Raphael came to run a large
workshop, working as an architect and designer of prints.

Raphael’s methods and practices of painting were at first abandoned after his death.
At the end of the century, however, his methods became exemplary in artistic
teaching.