The famous Italian Renaissance painter and architect Raffaello Sanzio was born on April 6th 1483, in Urbino Italy. Raffaello, now known as Raphael started to learn to paint at a young age from the teachings of his own father Giovanni Santi. In fact his father was a professional painter who painted for the Duke of Urbino.
In the year of 1494 Giovanni had died, while Raphael was only 11 years old. After his father’s death, Raphael had to take on the challenging task of managing his father's workshop. Not too long after, Raphael’s fame surpassed his fathers and became one of the finest painters in town.
Religion
Raphael Sanzio was Catholic, in fact Raphael portrayed his religion through almost all of his paintings since he was an extremely religious man. Many of Raphael’s paintings were for churches. Lots of churches all around Italy.
Geography
Even though Raphael Sanzio was born in Urbino Italy, he constantly traveled around the other parts of Italy doing what he loved, painting and architecture.
In 1500 Raphael became the master painter Pietro Vannucci's apprentice. He traveled to another part of Italy just to be apart of this apprenticeship. The apprenticeship only lasted four years but provided Raphael with the opportunity to gain knowledge and hands-on experience.