Important People in Raphael's Life

Giovanni Santi

Raphael’s father who would have provided him with his early training before his death in 1894.

Màgia Santi

Raphael’s mother, who died when he was only eight, but whose loving nature is credited for Raphael’s own sweetness.

Bartolomeo Santi

Raphael’s only paternal uncle who, along with Raphael’s unnamed stepmother, helped raise him until sending him to study with Perugino, assuming he had not already gone.

Margherita Luti

Raphael’s mistress who may have worn him out with a night of excessive sex resulting in an illness leading to his death and who may be the woman in his painting La Fornarina.

Maria Bibbiena

Raphael’s fiancé for six years from 1514 to 1520. She was the niece of Cardinal Medici Bibbiena, a friend of Raphael who may have pressured him into the engagement.

Pope Julius II

The Pope who first invited Raphael to Rome and provided with a steady flow of work until his death in 1513.

Pope Leo X

Julius II’s replacement who provided Raphael with even more work than his predecessor and formed an even closer friendship.

Donato Bramante

An architect and distant relative of Raphael under the employ of the Vatican who first recommended Raphael to Julius. When Raphael needed a consult concerning architecture in his paintings, like in The School of Athens, he used Bramante. Bramante was the chief architect of St. Peters until his death, when Raphael himself replaced him, but while he was alive he snuck Raphael into the Sistine Chapel to see Michelangelo’s great work in progress.