"The Mond Crucifixion"

Raffaello Sanzio da Urbino ( March 28 or April 6, 1483 – April 6, 1520), now generally known in English as Raphael was an Italian painter and architect of the High Renaissance. His work is admired for its clarity of form, ease of composition, and visual achievement of the Neoplatonic ideal of human grandeur. Together with Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo, he forms the traditional trinity of great masters of that period. Born in Urbino though spending most of his life in Rome, he led a nomadic life, roaming around the different regions of Italy. It is likely that he came into contact with the other Italian masters, Michelangelo (1475–1564) and Leonardo da Vinci (1452–1519).

He was described as a fully trained "master" by 1500. He worked in or for several cities in north Italy until in 1508 he moved to Rome at the invitation of Pope Julius II, to work on the Apostolic Palace at the Vatican. He was given a series of important commissions there and elsewhere in the city, and began to work as an architect. He was still at the height of his powers at his death in 1520. 

Many of his works are found in the Vatican Palace, where the frescoed Raphael Rooms were the central, and the largest, work of his career. The best known work is The School of Athens in the Vatican Stanza della Segnatura.