Raphael

Raffaello Sanzio da Urbino, widely known as Raphael, stands among the trinity of the High Renaissance masters, alongside Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo. Born in 1483 in Urbino, Italy, Raphael’s early artistic development was marked by the influence of his father Giovanni Santi, a court painter. Orphaned at eleven, Raphael rapidly became an apprentice in Perugia under Pietro Perugino, from whom he inherited a delicate, balanced style. His talent was recognized early, and he was engaged by patrons throughout Italy, including the Vatican in Rome. By the age of sixteen, Raphael was already producing significant works, and his early pieces like the *Resurrection of Christ* (1499) demonstrate both the inheritance of his master’s style and the emergence of Raphael’s distinct compositional genius. His short but prolific career would later shape the visual language of Western art. Source: adapted from the artwork essays in this collection.