Raphael, born Raffaello Sanzio da Urbino, is one of the key Italian painters of the High Renaissance. Most well known for his Madonna paintings and Fresco works. Much of his work was commissioned by popes and still appears in the Vatican Palace. Raphael began his art early in his life, learning from his father who was the painter for the Duke of Urbino. His father died when Raphael was only 11 years old, and Raphael took over the family’s workshop at that young age. He traveled later to Florence and then to Rome at the invitation of the Pope to work on the Vatican Palace. Raphael was heavily influenced by Michelangelo and da Vinci, and is most well known for his adaptation of composition and clarity of form.
“Raphael remained in Rome for the last 12 years of his life. In those years he was extremely active, preparing monumental frescoes for the papal chambers, designing tapestries for the Sistine Chapel, and painting scenes that captured mythological stories with delight and exuberance. His work became widely influential through the dissemination of prints. Raphael was also the city’s leading portraitist, creating penetrating psychological images that engaged viewer and sitter with a new intensity. When he died at age 37, the pope ordered that Raphael, who had been keeper of antiquities, be buried in the Pantheon.”
https://www.nga.gov/collection/artist-info.1818.html
A Gallery of Raphael’s Work
Sistine Madonna 
The Niccolini Cowper Madonna 
Madonna of the Meadow 
Red Chalk Study
Three Graces for Villa Farnesina
The Three Graces 
Supposed Self Portrait (Teen Years) 
The Transfiguration 
St. George and the Dragon 
The Entombment 
The School of Athens
Raphael’s Tomb in the Pantheon
(Lorenzetto)
Raphael’s Sarcophagus
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