Raphael

He was rich and famous and lived a rather grand life. He never married though he had several lovers, including his long-term mistress, Margherita Luti. He was once engaged to Maria Bibbiena, Cardinal Medici Bibbiena's niece, though the marriage never took place.

He fell severely ill after his 37th birthday and died a few days later on 6 April, 1520.

Raphael was born as Raffaello Sanzio da Urbino in 1483 in Urbino, Marche, Italy, to Giovanni Santi and his wife Magia Ciarla. There are doubts regarding his exact date of birth. It’s either April 6 or March 28, 1483. His father, who was an artist as well as a poet, was the court painter to the Duke.

Raphael grew up in an artistically stimulating environment as his hometown was a centre for literary culture.

His mother died in 1491 when he was just eight years old. His father subsequently remarried, but he too died in 1494. Young Raphael, though just 11 at that time, started helping his step-mother manage his late father’s workshop.

He had started painting at an early age and received training from the likes of Pietro Perugino and Timoteo Viti. By the time he was in his teens, he had produced a remarkable self-portrait. He was fully trained by 1500.

Raphael received a commission in 1500 to paint a large altarpiece dedicated to Saint Nicholas of Tolentino, for the Baronci chapel in the Sant'Agostino Church in Città di Castello. The work on the paintings was completed on 13 September, 1501.

During the period 1502–1503, he painted the ‘Mond Crucifixion’, originally an altarpiece in the church of San Domenico, Città di Castello. The painting shows Jesus on the cross, looking peaceful even though he is dying.

He spent a lot of time in Florence between 1504 and 1508, and was greatly influenced by the works of the painters Fra Bartolommeo, Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo and Masaccio. During this time he completed three large altarpieces, the ‘Ansidei Madonna’, the ‘Baglioni’ altarpiece, and the ‘Madonna del Baldacchino’.

He moved to Rome in 1508. The new Pope Julius II commissioned him to fresco, which was intended to become the Pope's private library at the Vatican Palace. Several other artists were already working on different rooms of the library, and ‘The Stanza della segnatura’ ("Room of the Signatura") was the first to be decorated by Raphael's frescoes.

Between 1512 and 1514 he painted ‘The Mass at Bolsena’. A self-portrait of Raphael as one of the Swiss Guards in the lower right of the fresco is present in the painting.

The ‘Stanze di Raffaello’, in the Apostolic Palace in the Vatican, is considered to be his greatest masterpiece. A part of the commission to decorate the Pope’s private library, the paintings he made include ‘The School of Athens’, ‘The Parnassus’ and the ‘Disputa’ which reflect the themes of philosophy, theology, jurisprudence and poetic arts.