Raphael

1483-1520

Raphael trained in his native Urbino under the patronage of Duke Federico da Montefeltro, then apprenticed with Pietro Perugino in Perugia around 1495. By 1504 he had settled in Florence, where he absorbed the innovations of Leonardo, Michelangelo, and the masters around him. His own style crystallized around clarity of form and harmonic composition. He became celebrated for his paintings of the Madonna, and in 1514 Pope Julius II summoned him to Rome to paint the Vatican Palace frescoes and appointed him chief architect. He held the Order of the Golden Spur and remained at the height of his powers until his death in Rome on his thirty-seventh birthday. His influence shaped both Mannerist and Baroque painting that followed.