How Did Raphael Die?
Raphael died on 6 April 1520, widely believed to be his 37th birthday, after a short and violent fever. He was at the peak of his fame, and by his own wish he was buried inside the Pantheon in Rome, among emperors and kings.
A fever that took two weeks
In the spring of 1520 Raphael was running more projects than any artist in Rome. Then he fell ill with a high fever that lasted around two weeks and would not break.
His doctors did what doctors did then. They bled him, draining blood to balance the body. On a patient already weak with fever, it almost certainly made things worse.
Vasari's scandalous version
The juicy story comes from Giorgio Vasari, who wrote his life a few decades later. By his account Raphael wore himself out with his mistress, came home feverish, and hid the real cause from his doctors.
Not knowing he was exhausted rather than overheated, they bled him, and that finished him. It is a great story, written long after the fact, so treat it as the legend it is, not a medical record.
What likely killed him
Modern historians lean toward an ordinary, deadly cause: an infectious fever of the kind that swept through low lying, swampy Rome every year. Pneumonia and malaria have both been suggested.
There is no autopsy to settle it. What is certain is that a strong man of 37 was dead within a fortnight.
Buried among the emperors
His funeral was enormous. His last great painting, the Transfiguration, was hung above the bed where his body lay, and the contrast between the living color and the dead painter stunned the mourners.
He had asked to be buried in the Pantheon, the ancient Roman temple. His friend Pietro Bembo wrote the epitaph, saying nature herself feared to be outdone by him in life and to die when he died.
They opened his tomb to be sure
For centuries people doubted he was really there. So in 1833 the tomb was opened, and a complete skeleton was found and examined in front of witnesses.
It was him. He was sealed again in an ancient stone sarcophagus given by the pope, where he still lies today.
Questions about Raphael's death
How old was Raphael when he died?
Thirty seven.
What did he die of?
A short violent fever in April 1520, made worse by bleeding. The exact infection is unknown.
Did he really die on his birthday?
Tradition says yes, that he was born and died on 6 April, which helped build his legend as an almost divine talent.
Where is he buried?
In the Pantheon in Rome, where his tomb can still be visited.
The number that sealed the myth
Dead at 37, he had already changed European art and become the model of perfection. People still debate whether anyone did it better, a question taken on in is Raphael the greatest painter ever. The whole life is in the complete story of Raphael.