Where Was Raphael Born?
Raphael was born in 1483 in Urbino, a small hill town in the Marche region of central Italy. It looked tiny on the map, but it was one of the most cultured courts in Europe, and he grew up right inside it.
A little town that punched above its weight
Urbino was the seat of the Montefeltro dukes. Federico da Montefeltro had turned it into a magnet for artists, scholars and architects, with a famous palace and one of the great libraries of the age.
This was the world that produced The Book of the Courtier, the era's guide to grace and good manners. The calm, balanced beauty in Raphael was shaped by this refined court long before he left it.
Born in a painter's house
His father, Giovanni Santi, was the court painter and a poet, with a workshop attached to the family home. Raphael was raised among pigments, panels and the comings and goings of the palace.
His mother died when he was eight and his father when he was eleven, so the studio became his school. More on that in interesting facts about Raphael.
Trained in Perugia, then drawn to Florence
As a boy he worked in the orbit of Pietro Perugino, the leading Umbrian painter, and absorbed his sweet, orderly style. He was being called a master while still in his teens.
Around 1504 he moved to Florence, where the work of Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo pushed him to a new level.
He left Urbino but carried it with him
By 1508 the pope had called him to Rome, and he never really lived in Urbino again. Yet the harmony he learned there stayed in everything he painted.
He died far from home, in Rome, in 1520. The story of that early death is in how Raphael died.
Questions about his origins
Where is Urbino?
In the Marche region of central Italy, inland from the Adriatic coast.
When was Raphael born?
In 1483, traditionally on 6 April.
Who were his parents?
Giovanni Santi, the court painter of Urbino, and Magia di Battista Ciarla, who died when Raphael was young.
Where did he train?
First in his father's workshop, then with Perugino, before learning from Leonardo and Michelangelo.
Did he stay in Urbino?
No. He worked in Perugia, Florence and finally Rome, where he spent his last and most famous years.
What you can still see there
Urbino kept him. His birth house still stands as a museum, and the Ducal Palace now holds a national gallery. The town that made him is still small, and still proud. The whole life is in the complete story of Raphael.
Want the surprises too? Try interesting facts about Raphael.