Olga's Gallery

Raffaello Santi, known as Raphael, or Raphael of Urbino, was born in Urbino on Good Friday 6 April 1483, the son of Magia di Battista di Nicola Ciarla and Giovanni Santi di Pietro. His father was a painter and poet at the court of Frederico da Montefeltre, one of the most famous princes and art patrons of Early Renaissance Italy. Raphael's father was not an outstanding painter, though he was a man of good sense. Raphael started helping out in Santi's studio at a very early age. It is believed that Raphael learnt the fundamentals of art in his father's studio. But it is still unclear where Raphael received his training after this early period in his father's workshop, as Giovanni Santi died in 1494. According to his first biographer Vasari Raphael was apprenticed to Perugino, although there are no sources, which confirm that he worked with Perugino before 1500. Among Raphael's early works, we know about Baronci Altarpiece, which was commissioned in 1501. It was badly damaged in an earthquake in 1789 and only some of its sections survived and now are kept in different collections. Read Raphael's Full Biography