Raphael facts for kids

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Quick facts for kids Raphael
Self-portrait by Raphael
Born	Raffaello Santi (or Sanzio) March 28 or April 6, 1483 Urbino, Duchy of Urbino
Died	April 6, 1520 (aged 37) Rome, Papal States
Resting place	The Pantheon, Rome
Known for	Painting Architecture
Movement	Renaissance

Raffaello Sanzio, known as Raphael, was a famous Renaissance painter and architect. He was born on April 6, 1483, and died on April 6, 1520.

Raphael is one of the three greatest painters of the High Renaissance. The other two are Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo. He is especially famous for his paintings of the Madonna (Mary, the mother of Jesus) and the Christ Child. He also created many amazing paintings in the Vatican in Rome, Italy.

Raphael's Early Life in Perugia
- Raphael's First Paintings
Raphael in Florence
- The Madonnas
Raphael's Time in Rome
Interesting Facts About Raphael
Other pages
Images for kids
See also

Raphael's Early Life in Perugia

Raphael was born in Urbino, a town in the Umbria region of Italy. His father, Giovanni Santi, was also a painter. Sadly, Raphael's mother died when he was only eight years old. His father died when Raphael was eleven.

Perugino was Raphael's teacher. This is his self-portrait.

When Raphael was about 15, he became an apprentice in the workshop of a painter named Pietro Perugino. Perugino was the most famous painter in the town of Perugia. He was also well-known in Rome and Florence.

Perugino was one of the artists who painted the Pope's large chapel in the Vatican, called the Sistine Chapel. He was known for his excellent painting skills and for finishing his work on time. This made him very popular with his patrons (people who paid him for art).

Raphael learned a lot from Perugino. He learned how to draw, how to paint human figures, and how to mix and apply paints smoothly. Perugino's paintings often showed people with sweet, gentle faces. Many of Raphael's early paintings also have this gentle style. Raphael was very good at painting, and people loved his artwork.

Raphael's First Paintings

One of Raphael's earliest known paintings is a small picture called The Vision of a Knight. It tells a story through symbols (an allegorical painting). In the painting, a knight is sleeping. In his dream, two beautiful women appear. One woman offers him flowers, and the other offers a sword and a book. This painting makes you think about choices: should the knight choose a path of love or a path of duty?

The Vision of a Knight, by Raphael

Other early works by Raphael include Three Graces and Saint Michael.

Raphael's first big painting was The Marriage of the Virgin, painted in 1504. This painting was inspired by a work Perugino did for the Sistine Chapel. Today, The Marriage of the Virgin is in the Brera Gallery in Milan, Italy.

Raphael in Florence

Around 1504, Raphael traveled to Florence, Italy, with another painter named Pinturicchio. Florence was famous for its art, its artist workshops, and its beautiful new Renaissance buildings. Raphael wanted to see the work of great artists like Michelangelo and Leonardo da Vinci.

The Madonnas

Florence was a city that loved images of the Madonna and Child (Mary and baby Jesus). The city was dedicated to the Blessed Virgin Mary. You could find paintings or statues of the Madonna and Child on almost every street corner.

While in Florence, Raphael painted many of his most famous Madonna paintings. Some of these well-known works include:

The Madonna of the Goldfinch (around 1505), which is in the Uffizi Gallery in Florence.
The Madonna del Prato (around 1505), found in the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna, Austria.
The Esterházy Madonna (around 1505–1507), located in the Museum of Fine Arts in Budapest, Hungary.
La Belle Jardinière (The Madonna of the Beautiful Garden) (around 1507), which is in the Louvre Museum in Paris, France.

Madonna of the Grand Duke

Raphael's Time in Rome

In 1508, Pope Julius II invited Raphael to Rome. Raphael became so popular there that people called him the "Prince of Painters." He spent the last 12 years of his life in Rome, creating many of his most famous artworks.

While in Rome, Raphael was asked to paint a fresco (a painting on wet plaster) of the prophet Isaiah in the Church of Sant'Agostino. While working, he visited his friend, the architect Donato Bramante. Bramante was at the Vatican while Michelangelo was painting the Sistine Chapel ceiling. Raphael wanted to see Michelangelo's work. When Michelangelo was away, Bramante took Raphael into the Chapel. Raphael was so amazed by Michelangelo's paintings of the prophets that he went back to Sant'Agostino's Church, scraped his own painting of Isaiah off the wall, and started over! Raphael was not ashamed to be influenced by such a great artist.

Raphael's portrait of Pope Julius II

The Stanze: Vatican Rooms

Some of Raphael's most famous paintings are the frescos on the walls of Pope Julius II's own rooms in the Vatican Palace. These rooms are known as the Stanze. Raphael painted the frescos in the Stanza della Segnatura and the Stanza d'Eliodoro himself. He designed the Stanza dell'Incendio, and his assistants painted it.

The School of Athens is the most famous fresco in the Stanze della Segnatura. It shows a group of wise people from Ancient Greece, including philosophers, poets, and mathematicians. They are listening to the central figure, the philosopher Plato. This painting shows that in the early 1500s, Rome was experiencing a new burst of ideas and learning, just like Ancient Athens.

Detail from The School of Athens

To make this message clear, Raphael used the faces of people he knew. The figure of Plato with long hair and a beard is a portrait of Leonardo da Vinci. It is believed that Michelangelo, with his broken nose, is shown sitting with paper and ink. Raphael even included himself in the painting, standing near the back on the right side.

One amazing thing about this painting is how Raphael painted the building around the figures. The architecture looks so real, as if it's an extension of the room itself.

Raphael as an Architect

In the 1500s, painters were often asked to design buildings. Raphael's first architectural project was a funeral chapel in the church of Santa Maria del Popolo. Pope Leo X also chose Raphael to help design St. Peter's Basilica with Donato Bramante.

After Bramante died, Raphael took over the design of the basilica. He changed its groundplan (the shape of the building from above) from a Greek cross to a Latin Cross. Later, Michelangelo went back to Bramante's original plan, but made it simpler. Another architect, Maderna, eventually made the building longer, as Raphael had planned.

Raphael's last painting, the Transfiguration

The Transfiguration

Raphael's last artwork was a painting called The Transfiguration. This was meant to be an altarpiece (a painting placed above an altar in a church). Sadly, Raphael died before he could finish it. His assistant, Giulio Romano, completed the painting.

Raphael's Death

Raphael died on his 37th birthday. He was buried in the Pantheon in Rome. His funeral was held at the Vatican, and his unfinished Transfiguration altarpiece was placed at the head of his funeral carriage.

Interesting Facts About Raphael

Raphael had a tough childhood: his mother died when he was nine, and his father died when he was eleven. His brothers and sisters also died young.
He became one of the best painters in his hometown.
In Rome, he was in friendly competition with two other famous artists: Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo.
Raphael was engaged to be married but never actually married his fiancé.
He was considered one of the most important architects in Rome.
Raphael was known for being charming and friendly. People believe his good personality helped him get many important art jobs.
When planning his large artworks, he made many sketches and drawings first.

Other pages

Images for kids

Giovanni Santi, Raphael's father; Christ supported by two angels, c.1490
Guidobaldo da Montefeltro, Duke of Urbino from 1482–1508, c.1507
The Madonna of the Pinks, c. 1506–7, National Gallery, London
The Parnassus, 1511, Stanza della Segnatura
The Miraculous Draught of Fishes, 1515, one of the seven remaining Raphael Cartoons for tapestries for the Sistine Chapel
Palazzo Branconio dell'Aquila, now destroyed
View of the Chigi Chapel
Sistine Madonna (1512)
Raphael and Maria Bibbiena's tomb in the Pantheon. The Madonna is by Lorenzetto.
Raphael's sarcophagus
The Mond Crucifixion, 1502–3, very much in the style of Perugino
The Coronation of the Virgin 1502–3
The Wedding of the Virgin, Raphael's most sophisticated altarpiece of this period
Saint George and the Dragon, a small work (29 x 21 cm) for the court of Urbino
The Ansidei Madonna, c. 1505, beginning to move on from Perugino
The Madonna of the Meadow, c. 1506, using Leonardo's pyramidal composition for subjects of the Holy Family
Saint Catherine of Alexandria, 1507, possibly echoes the pose of Leonardo's Leda
Deposition of Christ, 1507, drawing from Roman sarcophagi
Stanza della Segnatura
The Mass at Bolsena, 1514, Stanza di Eliodoro
Deliverance of Saint Peter, 1514, Stanza di Eliodoro
The Fire in the Borgo, 1514, Stanza dell'incendio del Borgo, painted by the workshop to Raphael's design
Il Spasimo 1517, brings a new degree of expressiveness to his art
The Holy Family, 1518
Portrait of Elisabetta Gonzaga, c. 1504
Portrait of Pope Julius II, c. 1512
Portrait of Bindo Altoviti, c. 1514
Portrait of Baldassare Castiglione, c. 1515
Resurrection of Christ, ca 1500
Sheet with study for the Alba Madonna and other sketches
Developing the composition for a Madonna and Child
Drawing for a Sibyl in the Chigi Chapel
Probable self-portrait drawing by Raphael in his teens
Self-portrait, Raphael in the background, from The School of Athens
Possible Self-portrait with a friend, c. 1518
Portrait of a Young Man, 1514, Lost during the Second World War; possible self-portrait by Raphael