Famed and influential Renaissance painter, noted for paintings of great beauty and harmony. His work epitomized Renaissance ideals of balance and ideal forms. His later works exhibit an interest in movement and emotion in narratives. He is best known for religious subjects, portraits, and historical scenes. He died young, at age 37. He was born 26 or 20 March 1483, and died 6 April 1520. He was trained as a painter; he entered the workshop of Perugino in Peugia ca. 1500. He went to Florence in 1504 and to Rome probably in 1508. In 1514, Raphael was appointed "magister operis" in charge of the building of St. Peter's. In the six subsequent years, until his death in 1520, he directed for Pope Leo X some of the main works in Rome, including the Vatican Palace (1514-1515) and the Villa Madama (from 1518), and carried on architectural activity for various patrons.
