April 6 - Raphael

Painter and architect Raphael was born on April 6, 1483, in Urbino, Italy, where his father was a court painter to the Duke. He managed his father’s workshop and was apprenticed to Umbrian master painter Perugino. From 1500, when he became independent, to 1508, he worked in central Italy, especially Florence, and was renowned as portraitist and painter of Madonnas. At age 25, he was summoned to the court of Pope Julius II to help redecorate the papal apartments in the Apostolic Palace. In Rome, where he was highly productive, he developed as a portraitist and a history painter, running a large workshop of assistants. His frescoes in the Palace’s four Stanze di Raffaello ("Raphael Rooms") mark the zenith of the High Italian Renaissance initiated by Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo. He died at age 37, in puzzling circumstances, after a liaison with his mistress. Pictured: “The Sistine Madonna” (1513) and its renowned winged “putti” (angels).