\b0 Born in Urbino to Giovanni Santi his painter father and first master, Rapha
el was by 1500 already an independent painter in Cittα del Castello where he painted the "\i Marriage of the Virgin"\i0 (Milan, Brera Picture Gallery). From 1504 to 1508, he was in Florence where he encountered and studied the painting of Michelangelo a
nd, especially, of Da Vinci. He painted works such as "\i Portraits of Agnolo and Maddalena Doni"\i0 (Florence, Galleria Palatina), the "\i Deposition"\i0 (Rome, Borghese Gallery) and the "\i Madonna del Cardellino"\i0 (Florence, Uffizi). In 1508, he
was summoned to Rome by the pope to decorate his apartments along with other painters. However, Raphael was soon given full responsibility for the painting of the apartments, or Stanze, the famous Stanze frescoes of the Vatican (1509/14). At the same tim
e, in the Farnesina, he painted the "\i Triumph of Galatea"\i0 and the "\i Loggia of Psyche"\i0 (1513/14). He also executed numerous portraits and his various "\i Madonna with Child"\i0 paintings ("\i Madonna of the Chair"\i0 , Florence, Palatina Gall
ery; "\i Madonna of Foligno", \i0 Rome, Vatican Picture Gallery). From 1514, his interest turned mainly to architecture, and he became master builder at St PeterÆs . His last work is the "\i Transfiguration"\i0 (Rome, Vatican Picture Gallery) , a true a
rtistic testimony to the genius of this painter.\par
