Raphael

Raphael (Raffaello Santi or Sanzio; 1483–1520), Italian High Renaissance painter and architect. He was early influenced by Perugino, as in Marriage of the Virgin (1504). In Florence (1504–8) he studied the work of Michelangelo and Leonardo da Vinci, being influenced especially by the latter, and painted his famous Madonnas. From 1508 he decorated the Vatican rooms for Julius II; the library frescoes, masterly portrayals of symbolic themes, use Raphael's new knowledge of classical art. His Sistine Chapel tapestries (1515–16) and his sympathetic portraits were much imitated. Chief architect of the Vatican (from 1514), he worked at rebuilding Saint Peter's Basilica.

See also: Renaissance.